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BOOKS ON THE HOME 
EDITED BY BENJAMIN R. ANDREWS, Ph.D. 
Teachers College, Columbia University 

HOME ECONOMICS IN 
EDUCATION 

BY 

ISABEL BEVIER, D.Sci. 


Lippincott’s Home Manuals 

Edited by BENJAMIN R. ANDREWS, Ph.D. 

Teachers College, Columbia University 


CLOTHING FOR WOMEN 

By LAURA I. BALDT, A.M., Teachers College, Columbia University. 
454 Pages, 7 Colored Plates, 202 Illustrations in Text. 

SUCCESSFUL CANNING AND PRESERVING 

By OLA POWELL, Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 425 
Pages, 5 Colored Plates, 174 Illustrations in Text. Third Edition. 

HOME AND COMMUNITY HYGIENE 

By JEAN BROADHURST, Ph.D. 428 Pages, x Colored Plate, 118 Illustra¬ 
tions in Text. 

THE BUSINESS OF THE HOUSEHOLD 

By C. W. TABER, Author of Taber’s Dietetic Charts, Nurses’ Medical Dic¬ 
tionary, etc. 438 Pages. Illustrated. Second Edition, Revised. 

HOUSEWIFERY 

By L. RAY BALDERSTON, A.M., Teachers College, Columbia University. 
351 Pages. Colored Frontispiece and 175 Illustrations in Text. 

LAUNDERING 

By LYDIA RAY BALDERSTON, A.M., Instructor in Housewifery and 
Laundering, Teachers College, Columbia University. 152 Illustrations. 

HOUSE AND HOME 

By GRETA GREY, B.S., Director of Home Economics Department. 
University of Wyoming. Illustrated. 

MILLINERY (In Preparation) 

By EVELYN SMITH TOBEY, B.S., Teachers College, Columbia University 

Lippincott’s Family Life 
Series 

* Edited by BENJAMIN R. ANDREWS, Ph.D. 

Teachers College, Columbia University 


CLOTHING—CHOICE, CARE, COST 

By MARY SCHENCK WOOLMAN, B.S. 290 Pages. Illustrated. Second 
Edition. 

SUCCESSFUL FAMILY LIFE ON THE MODERATE INCOME 

By MARY HINMAN ABEL. 263 Pages. 

THE FAMILY AND ITS MEMBERS 

By ANNA GARLIN SPENCER, Special Lecturer in Social Science, Teachers 
College, Columbia University. 










Books on the Home 

EDITED BY BENJAMIN R. ANDREWS, Ph.D. 

Teachers College, Columbia University 

HOME ECONOMICS IN 
EDUCATION 

BY 

ISABEL BEVIER, D.Sci. 

U 

DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS, UNIVERSITY OF 
ILLINOIS, 1900-1921; EX-PRESIDENT, AMERICAN HOME ECONOMICS 
ASSOCIATION; LECTURER IN HOME ECONOMICS, UNIVERSITY OF 
CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES; AUTHOR OF “THE HOUSE”; CO-AUTHOR 
OF “THE HOME ECONOMICS MOVEMENT.” 




PHILADELPHIA, LONDON, CHICAGO 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 



COPYRIGHT, 1924 , BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 



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PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 
AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS 
PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A. 

'/ 


JUL-2’24 




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TO MY GIRLS WHO FOR MANY YEARS HAVE 
BEEN MY INSPIRATION AND MY PRIDE 











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PREFACE 


The purpose of this book is to consider the 
development of home economics in relation to the 
education of women. It is intended to be of service 
not only to teachers of home economics and to 
students, but to all interested in the adjustment of 
education to modern needs. 

The teaching of the history of home economics 
has for several reasons been a difficult task because 
first, a great number and variety of subjects are 
included under the term home economics; second, 
the source material is very widely scattered in edu¬ 
cational, political, industrial, and social history, so 
that there is difficulty in selecting and unifying the 
essential parts; third, the students lack a knowledge 
of general history or of educational history as a 
suitable background. 

The author hopes to obviate some of these diffi¬ 
culties—first, by bringing together in one volume 
much of this related but widely separated material, 
and secondly, by its general plan and arrangement in 
the three parts of the book: The Evolution of Educa¬ 
tional Ideals, the Development of the Education of 
Women, and the Development of Home Economics. 

Some knowledge of the evolution of educational 
ideas and ideals, and also of the education of women, 
is a prerequisite for anything like an adequate under- 

7 


8 


PREFACE 


standing of home economics or an appreciation of its 
educational value. Because of this belief, the first 
division of the text is devoted to a study of some parts 
of general education in order to secure background 
and perspective in educational ideals. Again, while 
the study of the home and of its activities has many 
offerings of interest to men, yet it primarily con¬ 
cerns women, and has developed as a special phase 
of the education of women. So the second division 
of the subject-matter traces briefly the education of 
women to the twentieth century, and the book as a 
whole is largely concerned with home economics in 
relation to the higher education of women. The 
wisest selection of the parts of the history and the 
best method of presenting it are matters of opinion. 
In actual practice in many years of teaching the 
subject, I have tried many methods. The one herein 
presented, of connecting the history in so far as pos¬ 
sible with types of early schools, seems to come best 
within the range of the appreciation of the students. 
The author hopes that, even if the general plan is not 
approved, the material herein collected may serve as 
a useful text for prospective teachers of home eco¬ 
nomics and a handy reference for all interested in 
the development of education for the home. 

Wherever possible the original statements have 
been given in order that the student may have the 
benefit of the opinions of the authorities on which to 
base her own conclusions. 


PREFACE 


Grateful acknowledgment is hereby made to the 
large number of individuals who have thus con¬ 
tributed to this book, and also to the friends who 
have read portions of it. Special thanks are due to 
Miss Rose Briem and to Miss Sada Harbarger for 
preparation of the manuscript. 


The Author. 




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CONTENTS 

Preface . 7 

PART I 

EVOLUTION OF EDUCATIONAL IDEALS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Beginnings in Education. 15 

II. The New Spirit^—Renaissance., 29 

III. The Reformation. 39 

IV. Beginnings of Education in the United States. 50 

PART II 

FACTORS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE 
EDUCATION OF WOMEN 

V. Early Education of Girls in Europe and United States .. 63 

VI. Education of the Colonial Girl. 71 

VII. New Leaders and New Instruments in the Education of 

Women. 77 

Vin. Co-education. 92 

IX. Status of Women’s Education at the End of the 19th 

Century. 104 

PART III 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 

X. The Beginnings of Home Economics in the West. 119 

XI. The Beginnings of Home Economics in the East. 134 

XII. Early Allied Movements. 144 

XIII. Leaders in Early Development. 147 

XIV. The Founding of the American Home Economics Association 154 

XV. Educational Emphasis. 161 

XVI. Home Economics Since 1912. 169 

XVII. The Teaching of Home Economics. 185 

XVIII. Extension Work . 207 

XIX. New Developments of Home Economics. 218 

Index.223 


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PART I 

EVOLUTION OP EDUCATIONAL IDEALS 



CHAPTER I 


THE BEGINNINGS IN EDUCATION—CLASSICAL, 
CHRISTIAN AND MEDIEVAL 

The purpose of this study is to consider the 
development of home economics and its relation to 
the higher education of women. This purpose implies 
a brief review of the evolution of education that we 
may know not only the sources out of which these 
phases of modem education have developed, but also 
the social, political and industrial changes which have 
made possible, and, in many instances, have com¬ 
pelled these movements in education. 

Lack of suitable historic background has often 
been responsible for wrong ideas in regard to modern 
movements in education. The student of today who 
has been taught to regard vocational education as 
the very newest development is surprised to find 
that an Italian monk of the sixth century, Benedict, 
said, in the rules for his order: “ Idleness is the 
enemy of the soul. The brothers ought to' be occupied 
in manual labor and again in sacred reading .” 1 
Monroe says: 

4 4 The Benedictine rule was the first recognition of the value 
of manual labor in education. It required the monks to spend 
seven hours each day in manual labor and two hours in system- 


1 Cubberley, Readings in the History of Education, p, 57. 


15 



16 


EVOLUTION OF EDUCATIONAL IDEALS 


atic reading. They introduced new processes for the craftsman 
in wood, metal, leather, cloth. They fostered trade. They were 
thrifty agriculturists, good engineers; led the way in fine arts. 
The world owes much to them for preservation of libraries 
and classics. ” 2 

Contribution of Greek, Roman and Christian 
Thought. —In studying education we are studying a 
part of the evolution of civilization. The real foun¬ 
dation stones of our educational history are to be 
found in Greek, Roman and Christian civilizations. 
The passing years have greatly modified these contri¬ 
butions, but’ traces of each yet remain. 

The Greeks were the first who gave the world the 
idea of a liberal education. The idea, expressed by 
Aristotle, that the aim of life is to live happily and 
beautifully is a goal sought by many today. The 
search for the good, the true and the beautiful has 
gone on through all the centuries. The Greek contri¬ 
butions to art, their representations of the beauty 
and strength of the human form, are still the wonder 
of the modern world. 

While Greek thought stated the goal of a liberal 
education, it did not recognize the need of any formal 
education for home life. However, as is shown later, 
the Greeks should have credit for some of the ideas 
from which the modern study of home management 
has evolved, as in Xenophon’s report of Socrates’ 
discussion of the management of the household in the 
C'Economicus, and in other classical writings. 

2 Monroe, Brief Course in the History of Education, p. 112. Permission 
to reprint given by Macmillan. 



THE BEGINNINGS IN EDUCATION 17 

The Roman contribution to civilization and edu¬ 
cation, while very different from the Greek, is no less 
important, for it concerned the practical arts, the 
construction of buildings, the establishment of law, 
.order and government. The fact that Rome gave a 
common language, dress, religion and literature to 
the ancient world made a basis for the introduction 
of Christianity. 

The religion of Rome, like many of its other 
features, was intensely practical, with little or no 
appeal to the emotions and with no emphasis on 
personal morality. The Romans were tolerant of 
other religions and accepted much of the Greek 
philosophy. Their own stoic philosophy with its 
appeal to Universal Reason satisfied some of the 
more intellectual; but they had no religion for the 
masses, no answer to questions about a future life, 
no hope for the discouraged. The Roman matron was 
given a place of power and of authority in the home, 
and, at least in theory, the home was recognized as 
important. Cicero translated Xenophon’s CEconomi- 
cus into Latin. Neither Greek nor Roman phi¬ 
losophy satisfied the cravings of the human spirit 
“ for a power outside of and beyond itself.” 

Contribution of Christianity. —Christianity 
taught the fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of 
man, the immortality of the soul, His love for all man¬ 
kind, for each individual, and the equality of all 
human beings before Him. It was indeed a new 
conception of life, of service, of the value of a human 

2 


18 


EVOLUTION OF EDUCATIONAL IDEALS 


soul. Instead of gratification of self, the Christians 
preached the denial of self for the greater satis¬ 
factions of a future life. According to Christianity, 
the many gods of the Greeks and Eomans were dis¬ 
placed by the one and only living and true God. To 
a society of patricians, plebeians and slaves, the idea 
of the equality of all men before God, the sacredness 
of family life and the marriage tie were, indeed, 
strange doctrines. It meant a new order in society, 
and a new code of personal morals. 

The new faith was not popular with those of edu¬ 
cation or influence. Women, workmen and slaves are 
said to have been the first converts. Thwing says: 

“ It took almost three centuries for these new concepts to 
come into places of power and influence. ’ ’ 3 

Cubberley says: 

“ In the first century, the Christians were ignored; in the 
second, they were punished; in the third, persecuted, but the 
blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church. ’ ’ 4 

The last great persecution was a virtual failure, 
and in 313 A. D., Constantine made Christianity in 
part the official religion of the state, and began the 
policy of endowing the church. Before the century 
closed, Theodosius forbade all pagan worship. In 
529 A. D., the Emperor Justinian ordered the closing 
of all pagan schools, and the University of Athens 
closed its doors. 

The contrasts afforded by the contributions of 


3 Thwing, The Family , pp. 82 and 83. 

4 Cubberley, History of Education , p. 90. 



THE BEGINNINGS IN EDUCATION 


19 


these three groups are interesting. The early 
Christians put emphasis on life and character, not 
on social distinctions nor political influence, as did 
the Greeks and Romans. Greek religion and learn¬ 
ing were for the few; Christian religion and learning 
for everybody. A new idea of education and a new 
motive for conduct were introduced. 

Evolution of the Early Church and Educational 
Ideals. —The church early recognized the need of 
education for its converts and for the training of 
leaders, and organized various types of schools which 
are now to be considered. 

Catechumenal Schools. —The catechumenal type 
of school was organized by the church to instruct 
converts in the ideas of the church. It marks the 
beginning of the system of probation so long prac¬ 
ticed in the church. The teaching was neither for 
intellectual nor for secular purposes, but was rather 
an appeal to the emotions to induce converts to prac¬ 
tise the Christian virtues and to prepare for the life 
to come. The actual instruction was carried on in 
the portico of the church and consisted of moral and 
religious teachings, of memorizing the scriptures, 
together with some training in song service. The 
period of probation was about three years. 

Catechetical Schools. —The students in the cate¬ 
chetical schools were both heathen and Christian. 
The name has reference to the method of instruction, 
viz,, that of questions and answers. There was much 


20 EVOLUTION OF EDUCATIONAL IDEALS 

questioning on problems of life and conduct. The 
catechetical schools were for the purpose of helping 
the clergy in their difficult task of reconciling the 
“ other worldly ” idea with the worldly, and to help 
make adjustments between Greek philosophy and 
Roman practice, and the new faith. They developed 
into schools of theology to train leaders for the 
Christian church. 

Episcopal and Cathedral Schools. —T he first 

churches were in the cities and made their converts 
in the cities throughout the Empire. Prom the sixth 
century, the bishop was really the chief director of 
education, and his house or church was the place of 
instruction. The schools thus organized were called 
cathedral, or bishop, schools. In the cathedral 
churches, music was always an important part of the 
service, and in order to secure boys for the choir, 
song schools were organized and boys were placed 
under the training of a precentor, or choir leader. 
This was the beginning of the elementary parish 
school. Another type developed from the cathedral 
school was the grammar school for the city and 
country as well as for the church. The officers were 
Dean, Precentor and Chancellor. 

Monastic Schools. —The cathedral schools were 
under the control of the bishop and primarily for the 
training of the secular clergy. But many Christians 
of that day felt that their only hope of salvation lay 
in escaping from the world and the corruption of 
society, and in leading ascetic lives. Thus they inter- 


THE BEGINNINGS IN EDUCATION 


21 


preted Christ’s words to sell all one’s goods, to for¬ 
sake father and mother, wife and children. These 
ideas found expression in the founding of monas¬ 
teries for men and convents for women, and led to a 
great variety of orders which persist to this day. 

The work of the Benedictine monks may be taken 
as typical. Poverty, chastity, obedience, manual 
labor, and religious devotion were the essential 
features of the monastic life. The study of the Bible 
and the sacred writings of the church, as the pre¬ 
scribed work of the monks, led directly to the neces¬ 
sity of copying manuscripts because of the scarcity 
of books. 

The making of missals and of copies of the sacred 
writings in turn led to the scriptorium, or writing 
room, as an essential part of the monastery, as the 
provision for manual labor led to the shops for craft 
work in leather and metals. Out of all this came the 
monastery schools. 

The cathedral and monastic schools constituted 
the secondary school system of the Middle Ages. 
Cubberley says they were for at least six hundred 
years the only advanced teaching institutions in 
western Europe. The cathedral schools of Canter¬ 
bury and York were noted ones. 

It may be remarked in passing, that while the 
cathedral schools were almost always located in 
cities, the monasteries were seldom, if ever, found 
there. Their sites were in the river valleys or the 
forests to accord with the idea that they were a place 


22 EVOLUTION OF EDUCATIONAL IDEALS 

of refuge from the world and its forces. Thus the 
monks became pioneers in clearing the land and in 
preparing the way for agriculture and civilization. 

Conventual Schools. —Little has been said thus 
far about the education of girls. The invasions of 
the barbarians closed many doors to women of the 
better class, so they sought relief from a rude world 
in convent life. Here they were taught reading, 
writing, copying of manuscripts, weaving, spinning 
and needlework, the latter having an immediate use 
in the making of altar cloths and hangings for 
the church. 

The convents, too, were opened earlier than the 
monasteries. It was the practice then as now to send 
girls to the convent for education and for training in 
manners and religion. 

These schools throughout the entire Middle Ages 
attracted a superior class of women, and some of the 
most beautiful manuscripts and altar pieces are the 
work of their hands. After the training of the con¬ 
vent the daughters of the upper class went into the 
Bower of the Household for finishing touches in edu¬ 
cation, and to meet socially the men of their class. 

The letter written by St. Jerome in the early part 
of the fifth century to the Roman matron Laeta 
regarding the education of her little daughter, 
Paula, shows how ancient are the so-called modern 
methods of education: 

“ Get for her a set of letters made of boxwood or of ivory 
and called each by its proper name. Let her play with these, so- 


THE BEGINNINGS IN EDUCATION 


23 


that even her play may teach her something. And not only 
make her grasp the right order of the letters and see that she 
forms their names into a rhyme, bnt constantly disarrange their 
order and put the last letters in the middle and the middle 
ones at the beginning that she may know them all by sight as 
well as by sound. * * * 

“ Offer prizes for good spelling and draw her onwards with 
little gifts such as children of her age delight in. * * * 

“ And let her have companions in her lessons to excite 
emulation in her, that she may be stimulated when she sees them 
praised. You must not scold her if she is slow to learn, but 
must employ praise to excite her mind, so that she may be glad 
when she excels others and sorry when she is excelled by them. 
Above all, you must take care not to make her lessons distasteful 
to her lest a dislike for them conceived in childhood may con¬ 
tinue into her maturer years. * * * 

“ Let her very dress and garb remind her to Whom she is 
promised. Do not pierce her ears or paint her face, consecrated 
to Christ, with white lead or rouge. Do not hang gold or pearls 
about her neck or load her head with jewels, or by reddening 
her hair make it suggest the fires of Gehenna. * * * 

“ Let her learn, too, how to spin wool, to hold the distaff, to 
put the basket in her lap, to turn the spinning wheel and to 
shape the yarn with her thumb. Let her put away with disdain 
silken fabrics, Chinese fleeces, and gold brocades; the clothing 
which she makes for herself should keep out the cold and not 
expose the body which it professes to cover. Let her food be 
herbs and wheaten bread, with now and then one or two small 
fishes. And that I may not waste more time in giving precepts 
for the regulation of her appetite, let her meals always leave her 
hungry and on the moment to begin reading or chanting .” 5 

Secular Schools.— The schools thus far have been 
largely devoted to the work of the church. Two other 
types are yet to be mentioned which might be called 
secular schools. 


6 Cubberley, Readings in the History of Education, p. 59 ff. 





24 


EVOLUTION OF EDUCATIONAL IDEALS 


The Palace School.—This school included the 
princesses and princes of the royal household, rela¬ 
tives, attaches, courtiers, and even the king and 
queen. It was a motley crowd to teach in one class. 

When Charlemagne came to the throne in 768 
A. D., he found learning much neglected. The 
monastic and cathedral schools had broken up, and 
the copying of books almost stopped. He began his 
work of reorganization with the palace, or court, 
school. Alcuin, from the cathedral school at York, 
was made minister of education, and revived the old 
catechetical method of instruction. Charlemagne 
then turned his attention to the monasteries and con¬ 
vents and sent to them two volumes containing 
sermons for the whole year. Later, Alfred the Great 
established a palace school in an effort to revive 
learning in his kingdom. 

The Education of Chivalry.—C h i v a 1 r y was the 
name for a code of manners that developed during 
the days of the feudal system which followed the 
breaking up of Charlemagne’s kingdom. In the 
social order which resulted, society was divided into 
two classes, the lords of the manors and their ten¬ 
ants, or nobility and peasantry. 

Chivalry did for the nobility what the church 
schools had done for the church leaders, and the 
ideals of chivalry were stated as service and obedi¬ 
ence to God, as represented by the church, to one’s 
lord, and to one’s lady. Its ruling motives were held 
to be religion, honor and gallantry. Its stages in 


25 


THE BEGINNINGS IN EDUCATION 

education were represented by the division of train¬ 
ing for the page, squire and knight. This type of 
education played an important part from the ninth 
to the sixteenth century and reached its height in 
the Crusades of the twelfth century. 

Chivalry afforded little intellectual training. 
Cubberley says: 

“ For the nobility, it was a discipline just as the Seven 
Liberal Arts were for the monks and clergy. It was designed 
to prepare for life here, rather than hereafter. It was the pre¬ 
cursor for the education of a gentleman distinct from a scholar. ’ ’ 6 

Chivalry developed team work, a sense of honor, 
and dignified labor and service. Its ten command¬ 
ments, while often disobeyed, were yet helpful influ¬ 
ences in restraining a rude and quarrelsome people. 

Forces Within the Early Christian Church. —The 
Roman Empire, by its unity of language, customs, 
alphabet, law and trade routes, made possible the 
spread of the Christian religion, so that in less than 
four centuries it had spread throughout the Empire. 
In the meantime, the Christian church had developed 
a strong organization within itself. This organi¬ 
zation was founded upon the Roman idea of govern¬ 
ment, with a bishop as head of the church, as the 
Bishop of Rome had been head of the govern¬ 
ment. There was thus developed within the Roman 
Empire a state within a state, one set of officers 
owing allegiance to the Roman Emperor, the other to 
the Christian church. 


9 Cubberley, History of Education , p. 168. 



26 


EVOLUTION OF EDUCATIONAL IDEALS 


During the first two Christian centuries the 
Roman Empire reached its zenith. Its decline was 
marked by many elements: the introduction of large 
numbers of slaves, political corruption, a general 
letting-down in the cardinal virtues, and loss of 
respect for purity of family life. The municipal 
government became merely machinery for collecting 
taxes; education, a badge of distinction for a 
favored class. 

Barbarian Invasions.-Invasions by the barbarians, 
coupled with plague and pestilence, breaking over 
the boundaries, the Rhine and the Danube, resulted 
in a division into the Eastern and Western Roman 
Empire. In 410 A. D., Rome was sacked. A series of 
tribal invasions followed which brought the. Western 
Roman Empire to an end in 476. The invasions 
resulted in making southeastern Europe Slavic and 
Greek, and western Europe Teutonic and Latin. 
Terrible though they were, the invasions contributed 
to our modern civilization. 

“ They brought new conceptions of individual worth and 
freedom into a world thoroughly impregnated with the ancient 
idea of the dominance of the state over the individual. The 
popular assembly, an elective king, and an independent and 
developing system of law were contributions of first importance 
which these people brought.” 7 

The struggle between the Aryan and Semitic 
races, and the Christian and Mohammedan religions 
and their respective civilizations, was settled at the 
battle of Tours, 732. “ This,” says Cubberley, 


T Cubberley, The History of Education, p. 7. 



THE BEGINNINGS IN EDUCATION 27 

“ decided not only the future of European civiliza¬ 
tion but of American as well. ” 8 A tremendous work 
lay before the newly organized Christian church. 
Barbarians had to be civilized and assimilated, as 
well as Christianized and educated. One does not 
wonder, when the magnitude of the task is recognized, 
that it required about 1000 years, or from the fifth 
to the fifteenth century, to accomplish it. 

Educational Results.—The types of schools previ¬ 
ously enumerated represent part of the machinery of 
education from the beginning of the Christian era to 
about the twelfth century. At the close of the period 
we find some centers of learning in the cathedral 
schools; some specialization of knowledge—music, the 
trivium and quadrivium; the beginning of a learned 
class; the beginnings of supervision in the persons of 
the scholasticus, the precentor, the bishop; certifi¬ 
cation to teach in the granting of licenses without 
which none should presume to teach; beginnings of 
both elementary and secondary education; the begin¬ 
nings of secular instruction approved and sanctioned 
by the church in the training of the nobility. 

While these results seem a long step in education, 
it must be remembered there was much room for 
improvement. The instruction was yet for a very 
limited class, and for an institution, the church, 
rather than for the development of all the people. 
Education for the woman, and definite training for 
the home were far in the future. Society now con- 


6 Ibid, p. 114. 



28 EVOLUTION OF EDUCATIONAL IDEALS 

sisted of three classes: feudal warriors, priests, 
monks and nuns, and peasants who spent their 
energies in agriculture and the protection of their 
lords. The work of the church had been largely given 
to assimilating the barbarians. Little attention had 
been given to the advance of knowledge, in fact the 
church asked unquestioning obedience to the old 
truths rather than a search for new. Inquiry or doubt 
was not tolerated, and scientific inquiry was almost 
unknown. The Western church while it was Christian¬ 
izing the barbarians was itself being paganized. 


CHAPTER II 

THE NEW SPIRIT—RENAISSANCE 

By the eleventh century, there were signs of a 
new spirit, a changed attitude of mind, an interest 
in things intellectual—all precursors of the revival 
of learning. Greek learning and literature, though 
held in abeyance, had not perished from the earth. 
In Alexandria, Constantinople and the Syrian cities 
of Damascus and Bagdad, it had been kept alive, 
though apparently lost for one thousand years. The 
Eastern or Greek division of the Christian church 
made its contribution to education through scholars 
sent to Spain from the center at Bagdad. After their 
defeat at Tours in 732, the Mohammedans retired 
into Spain. There they developed agriculture, giving 
special attention to the breeding of animals, the 
planting of orchards, and the growing of vegetables. 
They were also manufacturers of silk, wool and 
leather. The Mohammedans were not scholars them¬ 
selves, but in their invasions they came in contact 
with Greek learning and were quick to recognize its 
value and absorb it. The Christian and Syrian 
monks became the scholars for the Mohammedans. 
Under the patronage of their caliph, schools were 
opened and libraries established. Bagdad became a 
great center of learning and superseded Damascus 
as the capital of Syria. 


29 


30 


EVOLUTION OF EDUCATIONAL IDEALS 


About 1050, these Moors, as the Hellenized 
Mohammedans were called, were driven out of Bag¬ 
dad and fled to Spain, where they established univer¬ 
sities at Cordova, Granada and Seville. Here they 
dealt with the sciences of physics, chemistry, astron¬ 
omy and medicine. These Mohammedans established 
libraries, taught geography and invented the compass 
and gunpowder. Graves says: 

“ As the classical learning had been restored from the West 
during the revival of Charlemagne, it was returned from its 
refuge in the East through the coming of the Moslems.” 1 

The eleventh century marks a turning point in the 
history of civilization. The Mohammedan conquest 
of Spain and the Crusades are both cause and proof 
of a new spirit of inquiry, both of which put emphasis 
upon the intellect. Thus was brought back to the 
Christian church the philosophy of Aristotle. For 
four centuries it dominated all philosophic thinking. 

One other contribution of the Moslems had a 
great influence, viz., the music, light literature and 
love songs of Spain, carried into Italy by the trouba¬ 
dours and minnesingers. 

The spirit of the times was not without its effect 
upon the Christian church. Blind emotional faith, 
mysticism, worship of saints and relics gave way 
before the new spirit, and the church itself realized 
the necessity for systematizing its faith. The cathe¬ 
dral schools and their scholarship had strengthened 
as the monasteries had declined in power. Finally, 


1 Graves, Student’s History of Education , p. 67. 



31 


THE NEW SPIRIT—RENAISSANCE 

there developed within the church a class known as 
the schoolmen, who attempted to rationalize the 
teachings of the church and put them into systematic 
form. This movement, called scholasticism, began 
the long controversy between Reason and Faith, or 
between Science and Religion. The result of the 
movement was a thorough reorganization of theology 
as a teaching subject and a new interest in theology 
as a subject of thought and study. 

This new spirit of inquiry expressed itself in 
many forms. In Italy it took the form of a revival 
of interest in law and medicine. The reestablishment 
of the Holy Roman Empire, the conflict between 
kings and popes, caused new attention to be given to 
both civil and church law. Law ceased to be a part 
of rhetoric, and was placed beside theology as a 
professional subject. 

Medical science had its beginning in Greece with 
Hippocrates. The steps in its evolution are interest¬ 
ing: the theory of the four humors, the demonic 
theory of disease as a punishment for sin, the 
amulets and shrines, are a part of the story before 
the days of Pasteur and the germ theory of disease. 
In spite of invasion and persecution southern Italy 
had kept the works of Hippocrates and Galen. In 
the eleventh century the study of these Greek medi¬ 
cal books was revived, and Salerno became a center 
of the practice of medicine. The establishment of 
the three great professions, theology, law and medi¬ 
cine, was proof of the growing spirit of inquiry. 


32 EVOLUTION OF EDUCATIONAL IDEALS 

The Crusades. —The Crusades of the eleventh and 
twelfth centuries were important factors in the 
development of education. The expeditions under¬ 
taken by the kings and knights of western Europe 
to the then Ear East, while they failed in their 
original purpose of wresting the Holy Land from 
the infidel Turks, were not without most valuable 
results in the history of civilization. These expe¬ 
ditions brought to the motley company of knights, 
nobles, peasants, merchants and outlaws, the value of 
working together for a common good. The fact that 
many of the crusaders died on the way helped to 
break up the feudal organization which they had 
left. Working together for a common cause gave 
some sense of solidarity and a national idea to the 
group. This adventure into unknown lands with 
strange people and products, the sight of cities of 
wealth and power, and a superior civilization, meant 
much in raising the general level of intelligence and 
awakened a new interest in the present world. 

The Guilds. —The results of the Crusades were 
expressed in the revival of trade and commerce, the 
rise of cities, and increased interest in manufactur¬ 
ing and industry. The feudal towns revolted against 
the authority of their lords and became free cities 
with chartered rights and privileges. In these towns, 
a new class of people developed who were neither 
lords nor bishops, but people, citizens or burghers, 
classified, according to their craft, as merchants, 
artisans, or tradesmen. This new social order created 



THE NEW SPIRIT—RENAISSANCE 


33 


a demand for an education adapted to group needs. 
The- social side of this development found expression 
in the organization of guilds. While the original guild 
was made up of the merchant class, all the crafts 
were soon organized, with dues, penalties and bene¬ 
fits, much after the order of our present-day trades 
union. The merchants led the way in the demand 
for recognition in the government of the city and 
state, and for education for their needs. As a result, 
the apprenticeship system of education was devel¬ 
oped with its three classes—apprentices, journeymen 
and masters. Each step was marked by certain tests. 

The Burgher and Chantry Schools. —At first, the 
burgher schools were not so different from those 
established by the church. Gradually, however, the 
reckoning took the place of other forms of arith¬ 
metic; and writing was taught, not for the purpose 
vernacular came to be emphasized instead of Latin; 
of copying, but for trade. Thus came the forerun¬ 
ners of the trade and technical schools of the 
present time. 

The chantry schools first arose out of the bequests 
of wealthy people for the purpose of supporting 
priests who would chant masses for the repose of 
their souls. Men of evil lives took this method of 
atoning for their misdeeds. Sometimes the money 
was left to endow priests who should chant masses 
each day. As this did not employ their whole time, 
the priests often offered to teach. Sometimes the 
bequest stipulated that an elementary or grammar 

s 


34 


EVOLUTION OF EDUCATIONAL IDEALS 


school should be maintained in connection with the 
chanting. Later, the chantry schools were united 
with the song schools, or the burgher schools. 

The Rise of Universities.—These schools had one 
idea in common, the principle of association which 
characterized various movements of the eleventh 
and twelfth centuries. Associations of scholars, 
paralleled, in a sense, the craft guilds, and did for 
the intellectual life what the crafts had done for civil 
life. These associations took the name of studia. It 
was a simple matter in those days to start a uni¬ 
versity. A teacher attracted a few students, set up 
his chair and began. About these teachers, as time 
passed, came other university workers, pedells, liter- 
areans, preparers of parchment. The ruling idea of 
these associations was protection and the securing 
of freedom for discussion and study. By 1200, there 
were six of these studia generalia, which evolved into 
universities: Salerno, Bologna and Reggio in Italy; 
Paris and Montpelier in Prance, and Oxford 
in England. 

The question of charter for the universities came 
early and resulted in the granting of privileges to 
both masters and students much the same as those 
granted to the clergy. These privileges included 
exemption from official service, from military service 
except in special cases, from taxation, and from con¬ 
tributions. The most important of these privileges 
was that of internal jurisdiction. Just as the clergy 
had been granted the right to try their own mem- 


THE NEW SPIRIT—RENAISSANCE 35 

bers, so the university obtained this power. German 
universities still exercise this jurisdiction, and 
American students have many times claimed free¬ 
dom from tbe authority of civil police. The privilege 
of granting the degree meant at first the giving of 
a license to teach. The privilege of ‘ ‘ right to strike ’ ’ 
has a very modern sound, and while not granted by 
charter, it developed by usage and meant that a uni¬ 
versity could move when any of its privileges were 
infringed. Oxford is said to have been started by 
migrations of students' from Paris because of such 
infringement, and it in turn lost to Cambridge. 

The university was organized into faculties with 
a dean. The deans and councillors jointly elected 
the rector. Of these faculties there were usually 
four—Arts, Law, Medicine, Theology. Because of 
the scarcity of books, the method of instruction was 
the reading of the text by the instructor, the copying 
by the students and debating upon the subject-matter. 
In a sense, the training paralleled the training of the 
craftsmen. The degrees given upon examination 
were Baccalaurues, Determine and Master; each 
denoted successive steps in training. While the 
course of study was meager and the methods inade¬ 
quate, they did much to promote freedom of discus¬ 
sion, to break the bonds of medievalism and to train 
leaders for church and state. 

Revival of Learning. —After the turning point in 
civilization had been reached in the eleventh century, 
the steps in progress increased rapidly. The Cru- 


36 EVOLUTION OF EDUCATIONAL IDEALS 

sades, the development of scholasticism, the growth 
of cities, the establishment of trade routes, the 
development of a burgher class and of schools for 
them, the erection of cathedrals and town halls are 
all proofs of a new spirit. But the greatest proof 
is in the change wrought in the spirit of the mediaeval 
man. For a thousand years he had been preparing 
for another world, had no confidence in self, no con¬ 
sciousness of his own possibilities. These new 
influences, however, now quite transformed the man 
and gave him the spirit of self-confidence, the desire 
for accomplishment, the love of adventure, and a 
desire to know and to do with this present life. 

Italy led in this march of progress, known as the 
Bevival of Learning, or the Renaissance. The reason 
for her leadership is not difficult to find. Almost 
every phase of the new movement had touched her 
at some point. Traces of the old culture had 
remained. She was the first to recognize the inade¬ 
quacy of mediaeval learning. Italian cities had been 
leaders in the new movements in trade and industry. 
Led by Petrarch, 1304-1374, called the first modern 
scholar and man of letters, an attempt was made to 
find the Greek and Roman texts in order to recon¬ 
struct Roman life and history. Later Chrysolorus, 
a Greek scholar, came to Florence and made that 
a center of learning. For one hundred years this 
new spirit dominated Italy. It was an intellectual, 
esthetic and social movement which brought a new 


THE NEW SPIRIT--RENAISSANCE 37 

conception of life, a new spirit in education, and a 
development of individualism called “ Humanism.” 

The march of progress was not confined to Italy. 
This new spirit found expression in inventions 
and in explorations. The printing press and the 
mariner’s compass did their work. Books began 
to be used; America was discovered; the world 
was circumnavigated. 

The people of the North were very different from 
the Italians, and accordingly, the revival of learn¬ 
ing was manifested in a different way. In Italy, the 
emphasis had been upon culture—upon the study of 
the classics, and resulted in the establishment of 
court schools. In Prance, humanism was associated 
with court life and nobles; but, modified by asso¬ 
ciation with the northern nations, its schools were 
municipal schools. 

In Germany, the movement was moral and 
religious, and led to the establishment of humanistic 
secondary schools in the German cities. Erasmus, 
1467-1531, and Sturm, 1507-1589, were their leaders. 
The latter was responsible for the founding of 
the gymnasium. 

In Holland, the schools of The Brethren of the 
Common Life were the result. 

In England, the new learning came through the 
refounding by Coles, 1510, of the cathedral school of 
St. Paul in London. The grammar schools, of which 
there were many in England, slowly yielded to the 
new spirit and changed their curricula to include 


38 EVOLUTION OF EDUCATIONAL IDEALS 

Latin and Greek, games and sports, and the 
religious spirit. 

The best ideals of the schools of the Renaissance 
are represented perhaps by Sturm, who defined the 
aim of education as piety, knowledge and eloquence. 
By piety, he meant knowledge of catechism and 
creed, with reverence for religion and participation 
in church services; by knowledge, the Latin language 
and literature; and by eloquence, the ability to use 
that language in practical life. 

Erasmus seems to have been the greatest of all 
the leaders of the new learning, but the liberalism 
which he taught, and with which his writings are 
filled, soon degenerated with his followers into mere 
formalism, and Latin was studied not as an inter¬ 
preter of life, but that one might know Latin. 

Results of Revival.—The Revival of Learning 
was a clear break with mediaeval tradition and 
authority. It brought back to the world the earlier 
ideas of education for service in church and state, 
and the business world. It was endorsed by those in 
authority—court officials, merchants, scholars, by 
those interested in the program of daily life and 
action. Had it kept the liberal spirit with which it 
was started, the history of the world might have been 
different; its degeneration into narrow formalism, 
however, marked its downfall. 


CHAPTER III 

THE REFORMATION 

The right to question had been firmly established 
and the desire for truth encouraged, so that the 
world of scientific truth and the facts of modern 
science were bound to be discovered, authority ques¬ 
tioned, and freedom of thought recognized as a right. 
All this meant evolution or revolution. History tells 
us that a revolution resulted, and the climax is 
marked by the deeds of Luther. The break in the 
power of the mediaeval spirit, and the formation of 
the new type of schools had brought forward leaders 
in many places. These leaders were questioning the 
authority of the church, the divine right of kings, 
the morals of the priests, the abuses of the church, 
particularly the sale of indulgences. 

The Reformation.—Chapters in this revolution 
may be read in the lives of Luther, Wyckliffe, Huss, 
Zwingli, Calvin and Knox. As a matter of fact, 
Wyckliffie’s work in England was done a century 
and a half before the trouble arose with Luther, and 
Huss, of Bohemia, had been burned at the stake as a 
dangerous heretic before Luther was born. 

Results in Europe.—The church did make one 
attempt to stem the tide of feeling within it and 
against it by calling a conference at Constance, 
Switzerland, in 1414, but the protests were of little 


40 EVOLUTION OF EDUCATIONAL IDEALS 

avail. The papacy grew more determined to resist 
the new spirit, and the climax came. One can under¬ 
stand why the revolt took such firm hold in Germany. 
For years the Italian papal court had flourished by 
means of the money collected from Germany to 
support the Italian church. The Germans resented 
this and were the more incensed because of the 
immoral lives of the Italian clergy. The clash came 
over the sale of indulgences for the building of St. 
Peter’s at Rome. After Luther had protested with¬ 
out result, he proceeded according to university 
custom and nailed his protests to the church door. 
Within two weeks these protests were scattered all 
over Germany, and within a month in all the im¬ 
portant centers of the western Christian world. 

“ Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth.” 

The Western Church, the one great unifying 
force in western Europe, was split by the Protestant 
revolt. The shackles of medievalism were broken. 
The beginnings of scientific inquiry and intellectual 
freedom triumphed. The right of all the people to 
know the truth was again recognized. The results of 
the Reformation may be classified as religious, politi¬ 
cal and educational. In this study, interest centers in 
the educational results, but they are not likely to be 
understood unless the religious and political are 
given some attention. 

For Germany the revolt meant political and 
religious wars for almost 100 years until the Peace 
of Westphalia—1648. While Germany was the 


THE REFORMATION 


41 


center of the warfare, Spain, France and other lands 
were more or less involved. Cubberley says: 

“ It left Germany a rnin. More than half the population 
and two-thirds of the movable property were swept away. Not 
until the end of the eighteenth century was Germany able to 
make any significant contribution to education or civilization. ’ ’ 1 

In England, the revolt took on more of a political 
significance, though brought about through the 
desire of Henry VIII for divorce from Catharine of 
Aragon. The Catholic Church opposed divorce. For 
years the idea of a free National Church had been 
growing in England, and in 1534 England separated 
from Rome. By the Act of Supremacy the king was 
made head of the Anglican Church. 

The reform movement in England wast not nearly 
so drastic as in Germany or Scandinavia, where 
Lutheranism was adopted as the religion of the 
countries. In England the bishops simply changed 
their allegiance from the Pope to the King. Some 
reforms followed. The service was read in English, 
but there was no great change in religious feeling as 
in Germany, France or Switzerland. 

Under the leadership of Zwingli, some of the 
Swiss cantons became Protestant, while others 
remained Catholic. 

The history of the revolt in France centered about 
an attempt to exterminate the Calvinistic Huguenots. 
The massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Eve in 1572 was 
its blackest deed. The edict of Nantes, 1598, was a 


1 Cubberley, History of Education, p. 301. 



42 


EVOLUTION OF EDUCATIONAL IDEALS 


pretense at religious toleration, but its revocation in 
1685 by which Huguenots were given fifteen days in 
which to leave Prance or become Catholic resulted 
in the departure of 400,000 thrifty, intelligent 
citizens and the establishment of Catholicism in 
Prance. Eeligious tolerance came through centuries 
of warfare, devastation, poverty and misery. 

The Peace of Westphalia, 1648, marks the end of 
the attempt of the church and the Catholic states 
to stamp out Protestantism on the continent of 
Europe. Eeligious independence was established 
by treaty. 

On the church itself the results of the revolt were 
good. The Catholic churchmen learned that the spirit 
of inquiry could not be turned aside, that church 
abuses must be reformed, that the lives of the monks 
and priests must be pure. As a result better men were 
selected for the church offices and education instead 
of force was adopted as a method of strengthening 
the church. 

Changed Ideals in Education.—The educational 
results of the Eeformation are better understood by 
a study of the ideals of education. Luther, 1438-1546, 
had no narrow conception, but was far in advance of 
his time. His aim was to make good citizens as well 
as good men. He appreciated the magnitude of the 
undertaking, and said it was the task of the state to 
provide and maintain education for everyone—rich 
and poor, high and low, boys and girls—and to com¬ 
pel attendance upon instruction. His curriculum 


THE REFORMATION 


43 


included provision for manual labor as well as study 
at school, “ so that study and work may go on 
together.” Knowledge of the Bible was fundamental 
for purposes of personal religion, but he recom¬ 
mended as well the study of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, 
rhetoric, dialectic, history, natural science, gym¬ 
nastics, nature study. As a result, three types of 
schools were worked out in Germany: vernacular— 
primary, Latin—secondary, and university. This 
arrangement marks the beginning of the transfer of 
education from church to state. 

In England, as has already been said, the revolt 
was political rather than religious or educational. 
Education remained the work of the church and was 
maintained by subscription or endowment. Since it 
was not a public enterprise, the public was not edu¬ 
cated. Practically no provision was made for the 
masses until the nineteenth century. The most strik¬ 
ing result of the revolt was shown in the dissolution 
of the monasteries and the confiscation of their 
property. Parliament at one fell stroke suppressed 
the monasteries, drove out some eight thousand 
priests and nuns, destroyed the churches and 
declared their possessions forfeited to the crown. 
Henry VIII began this work of confiscation in 1536; 
his successor, Edward VI, extended it to the Guild 
and Chantry Schools, and continued the confiscation 
from 1547 to 1553. As a result, only a few of the 
three hundred grammar schools that had come down 
in England from the Middle Ages were not destroyed. 


44 EVOLUTION OF EDUCATIONAL IDEALS 

The devastation thus wrought was in a measure 
recovered by Elizabeth and the first two Stuart kings. 
Some of the monastery schools were refounded as 
collegiate schools and endowed from the confiscated 
funds, e.g. 9 College of Christ Church at Oxford and 
Trinity College at Cambridge. While the quality of 
instruction was improved, the number for which it 
was provided was much reduced. In the adjustment, 
some elementary instruction was brought back by 
the parish school, the dame, reading and writing 
schools, but the chief results were shown in the 
grammar schools and universities. There the great 
purpose came to be the support of the authority of 
the Established Church. 

Social and economic conditions which arose in 
England at the time of the Reformation had a 
permanent influence on education. In the gradual 
change from an agricultural to a manufacturing 
nation, many of the rural population went to the 
cities, and so added to the number of the unemployed 
and increased the number of those in need of relief. 
In the time of Elizabeth, 1558-1603, it has been esti¬ 
mated that one-half of the population of England 
did not have a living income. 

The destruction of the churches had taken away 
one source of alms. The relation between prayer and 
penance was broken up. The state was forced to a 
new conception of the relations of members of a com¬ 
munity and realized that it must make some pro¬ 
vision for the care of its poor. The English Poor 
Law and the apprenticeship system were the results 


THE REFORMATION 


45 


of this agitation. This Poor Law, authorities 
agree, furnished the basic idea for school legislation 
in America. 

As developed then in England, the law embodied 
the ideas of the responsibility of the state to provide 
compulsory education through tax-supported schools, 
the distribution of the burden over the whole region 
by the pooling of the taxes, and the compulsory 
apprenticeship at trades of the children of the poor. 

The educational results of the Reformation 
among the Calvinists and Catholics are yet to 
be considered. 

Calvinists.—From the point of view of American 
educational history, authorities agree that no results 
are more important than those among the followers 
of Calvin, 1509-1564. Breadth of view, clarity of 
vision, recognition of the importance of the political 
and economic factors involved, religious fervor, love 
of learning were all given a place in the Calvinistic 
program for education. Moreover, the Calvinists 
understood how to wield the instruments to accom¬ 
plish their purposes, and to develop an extensive 
system of schools, extending from elementary edu¬ 
cation for all through secondary schools and uni¬ 
versities. In their schools the usual humanistic 
curriculum was combined with intensive religious 
instruction. 

Cubberley says: 

“ The education they provided was not only religious but 
civil; not only intellectual but moral, social and economic.” 2 


3 Cubberley, History of Education, p. 333, 



46 


EVOLUTION OF EDUCATIONAL IDEALS 


‘ 1 The strenuous moral training of the Genevese was an essen¬ 
tial part of Calvin’s work as an educator. All were trained to 
respect and obey laws, based upon Scripture, but enacted and 
enforced by representatives of the people, and without respect 
of persons. How fully the training of children, not merely in 
sound learning and doctrine, but also in manners, ‘ good morals,’ 
and common sense was carried out is pictured in the delightful 
human Colloquies of Calvin’s old teacher, Corderius. * * * 

“ Calvin’s memorials to the Genevan magistrates, his drafts 
for civil law and municipal administration, his correspondence 
with reformers and statesmen, his epoch-making defense of 
interest taking, his growing tendency toward civil, religious, 
and economic liberty, his development of primary and uni¬ 
versity education, his intimate knowledge of the dialect and 
ways of thought of the common people of Geneva, and his broad 
understanding of European princes, diplomats, and politics, 
mark him out as a great political, economic, and educational as 
well as a religious reformer, a constructive social^ genius capable 
of reorganizing and moulding the whole life of a people. ’ ’ 3 

Catholic Educational Reforms. -The influence of 
the Reformation was felt within the Roman Church 
as well as without. 

In earlier days, the church had realized how the 
impure lives of the priests had brought discredit to 
it, also how education had proved a mightier factor 
than force. Several reform measures were under¬ 
taken by the church; aside from improvement in the 
lives of the priests and changes in church practices, 
a propaganda of education was instituted. The 
leaders in this movement were the Jesuits, or Order 
of Jesus, founded in 1534 by a Spanish knight, 
Ignatius Loyola. 

3 Cukberley, History of Education, pp. 331 and 332, 



THE REFORMATION 


47 


The plan of life for this order was quite in con¬ 
trast with that of the earlier leaders of the church, 
who sought to escape the world and its temptations 
by fleeing to a monastery. The Jesuits, on the other 
hand, were expected to live in the world and to avoid 
all peculiarities of dress or manner that would 
separate them from it. As the order put special 
emphasis upon educating and training leaders, little 
attention was paid to elementary education. A 
strong military organization, trained teachers, and 
carefully selected students made the Jesuits a domi¬ 
nant force in education for two centuries. Their 
complete subjection of the individual, their opposi¬ 
tion to the spirit of inquiry, their lack of adaptation 
to the demands of the times and their political 
arrogance finally led to their suppression by the 
Pope in 1773. The order was reestablished in 1814. 

One other attempt at secondary education 
deserves notice, that of the Jansenists at the Convent 
of Port Royal. While they opposed the prevailing 
doctrine of confession and penance, they sought to 
remain within the Roman Church and organized 
small groups of students whose study and life were 
carefully supervised. These were known as “ Little 
Schools.” One of the mistakes of the Jesuits was 
the closing of these schools after only seventeen years 
of work. 

The Brothers of the Christian Schools, under the 
leadership of LaSalle, deserve mention in this con¬ 
nection : This order was the largest of the teaching 



48 


EVOLUTION OF EDUCATIONAL IDEALS 


orders established at that time. It attempted to do 
for elementary education and the children of the 
working classes what the Jesuits had done for 
secondary education. Moreover, LaSalle organized 
what was probably the second training school for 
teachers. A graded system of instruction and the 
germ of the monitorial system are also attributed to 
this leader. 

Review of Effects of the Reformation.—A review 
of the outstanding permanent effects of the Reforma¬ 
tion upon present-day education are most clearly 
shown in the development of elementary education. 
The religious element contributed by the church and 
the humanistic element of the revival of learning 
made possible curricula containing the Scriptures, 
Lord’s Prayer, Creed, Psalter, as well as the 
elements of secular education—reading, writing 
and arithmetic. 

The Protestant theory of education demanded 
schooling for all, but the carrying out of the theory 
meant an unheard of practice of providing education 
for a large class for which no money was at hand. 
Luther’s idea that the state should provide the funds 
was accepted, but the states were impoverished, the 
funds of the church confiscated, the people unwilling 
then, as now, to pay taxes, so it was years before the 
plan could be carried out. 

Moreover, tradition and practice were in favor 
of schools for leadership in both church and state, 
such as the old cathedral schools; as a result, the 


THE REFORMATION 


49 


secondary schools were developed quite indepen¬ 
dently and with an aim quite different from that of 
Luther’s theory: The elementary schools taught the 
vernacular to the masses. The secondary schools 
taught Latin to those destined for leadership. There 
thus grew up throughout Europe two systems of 
education. In organization and management the 
Protestants transferred much of the authority from 
the church to the state, while the Catholics held to 
the authority of the church. The state-supported 
elementary and secondary schools, and the beginning 
of the separation of church and state are the perma¬ 
nent resultsl of the Kef ormation. 

Thus far this study has concerned the evolution 
of education in the Old World only. One finds here 
the beginning in both theory and practice of many 
phases of modem education. However, the part of 
woman in civilization, and an education for the 
home, had as yet no recognized place. In the suc¬ 
ceeding chapters attention is turned to the New 
World and the influences of a new environment. 


4 


CHAPTER IV 


BEGINNINGS OF EDUCATION IN THE 
UNITED STATES 

Hitherto this study has not touched American 
education, but now the scene of the development is 
changed to America in the seventeenth century, the 
time of the beginning of colonization in the New 
World. Many motives have been assigned for the 
coming of the colonists to America: love of adventure, 
love of freedom, especially for religious freedom, a 
desire to escape the oppression and turmoil of the 
Old World, and with many, doubtless, simply the 
desire for gain. 

Ideas Transplanted. —Naturally these people 
brought with them the customs, religious and civil, of 
their mother country. The first settlements showed 
these ideas and ideals transplanted to a new environ¬ 
ment. At Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, an attempt 
was made to reproduce England in social, religious 
and civil customs. These Englishmen were ad¬ 
venturers, seeking wealth, not permanent homes, in 
a new land. They were largely of two classes—the 
landed gentry and the servant or slave, but they 
recognized the need for a learned clergy also. As 
early as 1616, funds were collected in England to 
“ found a college for children of infidels.’’ Within 
three years the funds had been collected, the place 
chosen and preparations made “ for the training of 

50 


EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES 


51 


the children of those infidels in true religion, moral 
virtue and civility.’’ Ten thousand acres of land 
were allotted for education—9000 for the English, 
and 1000 for the Indians. The Indian massacre of 
1622 depopulated the lands, left few survivors and 
put an end to these plans. 

In 1624, a beginning was made in school legis¬ 
lation. The Virginia General Assembly decided that 
each borough or hundred should “ by just means 
secure a number of Indian children who were to be 
educated in true religion and a civil course in life.” 1 
Apparently, their own children were to be educated 
in the home by private tutors or sent back to 
England, though some schools were founded in Vir¬ 
ginia by private bequests. 

The claims of industrial education were recog¬ 
nized in the law of 1646, which stated: 

‘ ‘ Commissioners of the several counties shall make choice of 
two children, male or female, eight or seven years at least, to 
be sent to James City (Jamestown) to be employed in the public 
flax factory work under such master and masters as shall thus 
be appointed, in carding, knitting, spinning, and so on, and 
that said children shall be furnished from the counties 'with six 
barrels of corn, two coverlids, one rug, one blanket, one bed, 
one wooden bowl or tray, two pewter spoons, a sow shote of six 
months, and two laying hens, convenient apparel, both linen and 
woolen, with hose and shoes.’ ’ 2 

Two houses and 10,000 pounds of tobacco com¬ 
pleted the equipment. 

1 Dexter, History of Education, p. 6. Permission to reprint given by 
Macmillan. 

8 Cubberley, Readings in the History of Education, p. 308. 



52 


EVOLUTION OF EDUCATIONAL IDEALS 


By 1660, the needs of the church called for more 
educated men, and efforts were begun, which later 
culminated in the founding of William and Mary 
College in 1693. However, this was not accomplished 
without opposition, as is shown by the statement of 
Governor Berkeley in 1671: 

‘ 4 I thank God there are no free schools, and I hope we shall 
not have them these hundred years, for learning has brought 
disobedience and heresy and sects into the world. ’ ’ 3 

Types of Education Transplanted.—The types of 
education transferred from Europe to America 
included aristocratic, governmental and parochial 
schools. 

Aristocratic.—The early Virginians transplanted 
the aristocratic type of education and main¬ 
tained it. 

Governmental.—The New England colonists, on 
the other hand, were dominated by very different 
purposes, and the results are shown in the type of 
education and the customs which they established. 
The Puritans had braved many dangers and suffered 
much that they might find a place where they could 
found homes and establish the Calvinistic ideas of 
religion and government. To them religion and 
government were animated by one spirit. The Meet¬ 
ing House was the centre of both their religious and 
civil life. In accordance with their democratic ideals 
of education of the masses as a safeguard for the 
state, they developed the English idea of education— 


8 Graves, Student’s History of Education, p. 192. 



EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES 


53 


private instruction in the home, apprenticeship 
system, Latin grammar schools and a college. The 
Boston Latin Grammar School, 1635, and Harvard 
College, 1636, are examples of the latter two. 

Parochial. —Conditions in Pennsylvania were 
quite different from those in New England. In 
Massachusetts, practically only one class of people 
was represented, while in Pennsylvania the popu¬ 
lation was very heterogeneous, consisting of German 
sects, Swedes, Dutch, English, Welsh, Scotch and 
Irish adherents of the Protestant faith, each devoted 
to its own denominational school. All believed in the 
importance of a knowledge of the Bible for personal 
guidance and salvation, and in the school as an essen¬ 
tial part of a church organization. Naturally, the 
parish or parochial school was the strongest factor 
in education. These schools were often taught by the 
minister; they were open to boys and girls, and were 
almost entirely elementary in character. The Dutch 
schools of New York belong to this class, and were at 
first simply transplanted Holland schools, in which 
the legal support and control was vested in the civil 
authorities, and the responsibility for certifying 
teachers belonged to the church. The Dutch school 
of New Amsterdam, founded in 1633, has as its 
descendant today Columbia University. When the 
English came into control in 1677, the parochial 
school lost its importance and the Anglican indif¬ 
ference to universal education prevailed. 


54 


EVOLUTION OF EDUCATIONAL IDEALS 


School Legislation. —The colonists soon recognized 
that voluntary efforts would not be sufficient to pro¬ 
vide the education they deemed essential, and the 
results of their efforts are shown in two remarkable 
laws which have been the basis of American school 
legislation. The Massachusetts law of 1642 is remark¬ 
able in, that for the first time in an English-speaking 
world a legislative body representing the state 
ordered that all children should be taught to read. 
u This was a distinctively Calvinistic contribution to 
our new world life.” 4 Though a great step forward, 
the weakness of this law soon became evident. It 
provided neither schools nor schoolmasters. 

“ In the law of 1647,” Dexter says, “ we have the mother 
of all our school laws and in it all the essentials of the purest 
democracy. The teacher was to be appointed by the people and 
paid by the people to teach all such as resorted to him to write 
and read. Moreover, the law was mandatory and a fine was 
imposed upon those communities that failed to meet its require¬ 
ments, which were an elementary school for fifty families and a 
grammar school for one hundred families.” 5 

These beginnings in education and school legis¬ 
lation made in the colonies between 1607 and 1647 
had far-reaching results. Three types of education 
then developed, aristocratic, parochial and govern¬ 
mental, are still represented in our school systems. 

In the school legislation of 1642 and 1647, 
Martin states that these fundamental principles 
were established: 

* Cubberley, History of Education, p. 364. 

6 Dexter, History of Education, p. 34. Permission to reprint given 
by Macmillan. 



EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES 


55 


1. ‘‘Universal education of youth is essential to the well-being 

of the state. 

2. ‘ ‘ The obligation to furnish education rests primarily upon 

the parent. 

3. “ The state has a right to enforce this obligation. 

4. ‘ ‘ The state may fix a standard which shall determine the 

kind of education and the minimum amount. 

5. “ Public money raised by a general tax may be used to 

provide such education as the state requires. This tax 
may be general, though school attendance is not. 

6. “ Education higher than the rudiments may be supplied by 

the state. Opportunity must be provided at public 
expense for youths who wish to be fitted for 
the University . 1 ’ 6 

Attention should be called to the reason assigned 
for educating the child—not for his own sake nor to 
spare the father, but because the state will suffer if 
he is not educated. 

Transition Period.—For the next hundred years, 
there is little to record concerning education in the 
United States. A few Latin grammar schools 
flourished, notably those of Boston and New Haven. 
As the dominant motive for education was to prepare 
for the ministry, colleges, rather than public schools, 
were founded, among them: Harvard, Yale, William 
and Mary, and Princeton. 

Little wag done in elementary education, although 
the dame school idea had been transplanted to 
America. The writing school was sometimes com¬ 
bined with the dame school. The parish school was 
developed in the middle colonies and the pauper or 


6 Cubberley, Public Education in the United States, p. 18. 



56 


EVOLUTION OF EDUCATIONAL IDEALS 


charity school in the southern. The equipment was 
very poor, the school rooms were uncomfortable; the 
teachers, except in the Latin grammar schools, were 
uneducated, and text-books were almost unknown. 
The horn book, Psalter, catechism, and New England 
Primer represented almost the entire outfit. Of 
these, the New England Primer, 1690, was a wonder¬ 
ful volume, and was, for 125 years, the text-book 
in both school and home. It was essentially a 
religious reader. 

By 1750, the transition period in education and 
religious and civic ideals was well under way. The 
younger generations were moving inland, the popu¬ 
lation was growing, and religious convictions were 
not so important a factor in the thought and life of 
the new generation. The few newspapers were creat¬ 
ing an interest in secular things. The hardships and 
necessities of pioneer life were absorbing. 

Evolution of American Ideals.—Plans for schools 
had to be changed. Part of the work formerly carried 
on in the Meeting House was taken now to the town 
hall. The separation of church and state was begun. 
New settlements meant new schools, which resulted 
in the rise of the district system and, finally, in the 
state-supported school. 

Meanwhile the gap between the colonies and 
England was growing wider. The social and economic 
problems of the new world were very different from 
those of the old. The fateful years of 1774-1789 were 
marked by successive steps in the separation from the 


EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES 57 

mother country: Declaration of Eights, First Conti¬ 
nental Congress, Declaration of Independence, the 
War of the Eevolution, victory and acknowledged 
independence, drafting of Constitution of the United 
States, election of the first President, and the begin¬ 
ning of American national life. 

New Instruments of Education.—The new life 
soon manifested itself in new instruments of edu¬ 
cation to replace those which had ceased to function. 
Franklin Academy at Philadelphia, founded in 1751, 
which later developed into the University of Penn¬ 
sylvania, was probably the first one of its kind in the 
United States. The academy, however, did not 
become at all general until the last decade of the 
eighteenth century, and its great period of develop¬ 
ment was the first half of the nineteenth. The 
academies were still religious in tone, but they were 
also practical and gave attention to science. More¬ 
over, they were open to girls. That was a real innova¬ 
tion in education. Latin was taught, but emphasis 
was put upon English and questions of the day. 

American Ideals Established.—Demands for edu¬ 
cation in the nineteenth century were changed by the 
union of many new forces which resulted from the 
growth of national life. The secular Sunday school, 
the school societies, the monitorial and infant schools 
of the first half of the century strengthened the 
general cause of education; but with the development 
of the country, and the growth of trade and industry, 
these were inadequate and had to be replaced. 


58 


EVOLUTION OF EDUCATIONAL IDEALS 


Moreover, the academies and colleges were not for 
all of the people. As in the twelfth century there 
had arisen a class demand for schools, so in the nine¬ 
teenth century again class demands arose. The needs 
of engineers, farmers, tradesmen, women and chil¬ 
dren were presented. The idea that in a democracy 
all the people must be educated was believed; but it 
took until about 1860 to establish the principle that 
the American public school must be supported by 
taxation, must be free from sectarian control, must 
be open to all, and must be complete from the primary 
grades through the high school and, in some states, 
through the university. The principle was estab¬ 
lished; yet it required another twenty-five years to 
make it effective throughout the country. 

Meanwhile between 1860 and 1870, five years were 
spent in civil strife and five more in necessary read¬ 
justment, but the last quarter of the nineteenth 
century is rich in the development of the tools of edu¬ 
cation. To name the movements is to indicate the 
changing conceptions of education: technical schools, 
manual training schools, kindergartens, land-grant 
colleges, scientific schools, and women’s colleges. The 
discoveries of science and their application to the 
affairs of daily life contributed to an industrial revo¬ 
lution. This in turn revolutionized the content and 
methods of education. The most conspicuous example 
of the change is probably the introduction of the 
laboratory method in science. Agassiz’s colleagues 
objected to his teaching with the real objects on the 


EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES 


59 


basis that it disturbed the classroom order, but tbe 
laboratory method had arrived. 

Chemistry came into the college curriculum 
largely through the medical school. Technical 
schools and commercial schools came in response to 
the demands of industry and trade, respectively. Art 
and music found their places in the general scheme 
of education and were recognized as of great value. 
While normal schools were a comparatively early 
development, about 1840, the scientific study of 
education has been one of the latest developments. 

This imperfect sketch of the evolution of edu¬ 
cational ideals is given in the hope that it may prove 
helpful in showing at least something of the foun¬ 
dation from which the education of women in its 
varied phases has evolved. In the next division, 
specific attention is given to the factors which aided 
in the development of the education of women. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCE READINGS 

PART I 

Evolution of Educational Ideals 

Texts 

Bliimner, Hugo, Home Life of the Greeks. 

Burckhardt, J., The Renaissance in Italy. 

Cubberley, Ellwood P., History of Education. 

Public Education in the United States. 

Readings in the History of Education. 

Donaldson, James, Woman: Her Position and Influence in Ancient Greece 
and Rome, and among the Early Christians. 

Graves, Frank P., Student’s History of Education. 

Monroe, Paul, Brief Course in the History of Education. 

Cyclopedia of Education. 

Source Book of the History of Education. 

Watson, Foster, Vives and the Renaissance Education of Women. 
Wollstoneoraft, Mary, Vindication of the Rights of Women. 


/ 



PART II 


FACTORS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE 
EDUCATION OF WOMEN 


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CHAPTER V 


EARLY EDUCATION OF GIRLS IN EUROPE 
AND THE UNITED STATES 

General Survey.—A woman studying the history 
of education is surprised to find how completely the 
subject of the education of her kind is ignored. Of 
the many current histories of education only three 
devote as much as a single chapter to this subject. 
If, for example, she turns, as is the custom in study¬ 
ing the sources of educational theories, to the writers 
of Greece and Rome, she finds very little information 
on this subject. One single instance of definite train¬ 
ing in the duties and activities of women is found in 
the classic example of Ischomachus in his instruc¬ 
tions to his wife, as set forth by Xenophon. He set 
forth the duties and responsibilities of the Greek 
wife as follows: 

“ The Gods, as it seems to me, have plainly adapted the 
nature of woman for works- and duties within doors, and that 

of man for works and duties without doors.and over such 

as have business to do in the house you must exercise a watchful 

superintendence.Whatever is brought into the house you 

must take charge of it; whatever portion of it is required for 
use, you must give out; and whatever should be laid by, you 

must take account of it and keep it safe.For the divinity 

knowing that he had given the woman by nature and laid upon 
her the office of rearing children has also bestowed upon her a 
greater portion of love for her newly born offspring than on 
the man. ’ 1 11 

1 Monroe, Source Booh of the History of Education, pp. 41, 43. Per¬ 

mission to reprint given by Macmillan, 






64 FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 

Thus early was formulated the social doctrine that 
the tasks of the household and the rearing of children 
belonged to women. Later, one finds these ideas of 
the Greeks translated by Cicero, and there is much 
evidence of the importance attached to the place of 
the Roman matron, though no definite statement of 
her training is given. Even as civilization moved on 
in the centuries, the women who left home were 
supposed to go to the convents. There the work of 
spinning, weaving, and what is called today house¬ 
hold arts, was aside from the dominant motive—to 
escape the world and to give herself to religion. 

Women of Renown.—On the other hand, not a few 
records of educated women are to be found during 
all periods of the world’s history. Among famous 
women were the Greek poets Erinna and Corinna; 
the philosophers St. Catharine and Hypatia; 
abbesses such as Roswitha of Gandershein who wrote 
lives of the saints and was a poet and historian; 
Hildegard of Bingen, 1098-1178, and Elizabeth of 
Schonau, 1129-1165, known through their political 
writings. J ane Grey and Elizabeth Tudor in Eng¬ 
land, Margaret of Navarre in France, and Margaret 
of Cortona 2 each founded and managed a hospital as 
well as a school for training nurses. Catherine 
Benincasa, though trained for convent life, was 
drawn into the politics of her native city, Sienna, and 
became a power among popes and kings. 2 


2 Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education. Vol. 5, pp. 795 ff. 



EARLY EDUCATION OF GIRLS 65 

There are the familiar records of Jael, Judith, 
and Deborah, Judge in Israel, as well as of Euth, 
Esther and the wise woman of Proverbs, “ in whom 
the heart of her husband did safely trust.’’ Doctor 
McGill has called attention to the fact not so fre¬ 
quently mentioned that “ her husband is known in 
the gates not because she sits modestly within her 
house and busies herself with the distaff, but because 
she rises early and goes to bed late, because she runs 
a, farm efficiently and knows how to buy land, and to 
sell the products of her domestic linen and woolen 
factory in the best market. ” Her fame seemed to rest 
for the most part on her extra-domestic activities. 3 

The Italian models of womanly distinction, the 
Duchess Elisabetta of ITrbino and the Marchioness 
Isabella of Mantua, are not so well known. Vittorino 
and Leonardo Bruno seemed to be the first school¬ 
masters to put into practice the doctrine of edu¬ 
cational equality of the sexes, but this innovation 
against tradition was limited to the women of the 
governing class, in fact was only a part of the general 
educational advance which reached its best develop¬ 
ment in Florence. It never obtained in Naples or 
Venice, Paris or the Ehineland. In German, French 
and English society, down to the Eeformation, the 
mediaeval conception of education held complete sway. 
Domestic duties, housekeeping processes, the rudi¬ 
ments of nursing, music, and religion constituted in 
the minds of men a sufficient field for woman’s efforts. 

8 Caroline E. McGill, “The Gallant Lady” Scribner's, August, 1922. 

5 



66 FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 


The explanation of the seeming neglect of the edu¬ 
cation of women in mediaeval times is rather simple. 
Education is never far in advance of an expressed 
need. In the early church, education concerned itself 
only with training leaders for church and state, and 
in those days leadership in either did not belong to 
woman. Nature had assigned to her the duties of 
the bearing and the rearing of children, and later the 
division of labor gave to woman the task of house¬ 
keeping. This meant a knowledge of household 
processes and of what is now called mother-craft. 
The home provided opportunity for practise in 
housekeeping, usually under the mother’s guidance, 
and instinct and child-care were considered sufficient 
training in mother-craft. 

Leaders in the Education of Women.—M o n r o e 
says that: 

‘ 1 Juan Luis Vives, 1492-1540, a Spaniard who enjoyed the 
patronage of Queen Catharine of Aragon, was the pioneer of 
woman’s education on Renaissance principles.” 4 

At the command of the Queen he wrote, in 1523, 
the treatise: “ De Institutione Feminae Christianae.” 
“ A woman,” he urges, “ needs to be fortified by a 
wise philosophy, for she is weak.” 5 6 

To that end, the reading of Plato, Plutarch, 
Cicero,, and Seneca was prescribed, “ for all these 
have written upon self-control.” The vernacular, 
Latin and carefully selected poetry were considered 

4 Monroe, Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. 5, pp. 738 if. Permission to 

reprint given by Macmillan. 

6 Woodward, Education During the Renaissance, p. 207. 



EARLY EDUCATION OF GIRLS 


67 


desirable studies, but mathematics, history and poli¬ 
tics were debarred. The ideal seemed to be that of 
a high-principled lady and a good wife and mother. 

Erasmus, 1467-1531.—Vives speaks of himself as 
a disciple of Erasmus, whom Monroe calls “ the most 
famous of all leaders of the new learning.” Erasmus 
emphasized the study of the child and the importance 
of play and exercise. Both Vives and Erasmus recog¬ 
nized the importance of home training by educated 
mothers, and the benefits of the social and religious 
elements in life and education. 

Luther, 1483-1546.—The education of girls made 
progress during the Reformation, that seed-plot of so 
many new movements. Indeed, the basic idea that 
the eternal welfare) of every individual depended 
upon his ability to apply the teachings of the 
Scriptures to his own life, made some education for 
all a necessity. Luther, in many respects the fore¬ 
most leader, wrote: 

“Another world has dawned, in which things go differently. 

.Were there neither sonl, heaven, nor hell, it would still 

be necessary to have schools for the sake of affairs here below, 
as the history of the Greeks and Romans plainly teaches. The 
world has need of educated men and women to the end that 
the men may govern the country properly and that the women 
may properly bring up their children, care for their domestics 
and direct the affairs of their household. ’ ’ 6 

Comenius, 1592-1670.—A century later, Come- 
nius, the Moravian leader, author, not only of the 
Great Didactic, but also of the School of the Mother’s 
Knee, the forerunner of the kindergarten, said: 


6 Cubberley, The History of Education , pp. 312 ff. 





68 FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 


“ No satisfactory reason can be given why the weaker sex 
ought to be entirely excluded from the study of wisdom, 
whether treated in Latin or in the vernacular, for they are 
equally in the image of God, are equally participants in His 
grace and in His future kingdom. They are endowed with 
minds quick and capable of wisdom often beyond our own sex.” 7 

Comenius, it is remembered, is one of the outstand¬ 
ing figures in the history of education, remarkable not 
only for his interest in the education of girls, but also 
for his formulation of the methods of teaching, for his 
organization of schools, and for the number of text¬ 
books he wrote. 

“ The germ of almost all eighteenth and nineteenth century 
educational theory is to be found in his work. ’ ’ 8 

Fenelon, 1651-1715.—Other testimony is given by 
Fenelon, a priest who w T as head of a French school for 
young women who had renounced the Protestant 
faith. During the ten years of his life as director of 
this institution, Fenelon wrote a famous treatise on 
“ The Education of Girls.” He is to be commended 
for the frankness with which he states his opinions. 

‘ 1 Women are weaker than men physically and mentally. 

Their duties lie at the foundation of all human life.The 

weaker they are the more necessary it is to strengthen them.” 9 

He prescribes training in accordance with their 
duties, which he names as managing a household, 
making a husband happy and training children well. 
Reading, writing, history, poetry, accounts, music 
and painting, he deemed suitable subjects, but for¬ 
bade law, medicine and theology. 


7 Adamson, Pioneers of Modern Education, p. 60. 

8 Cubberley, History of Education, p. 415. 

9 Painter, Great Pedagogical Essays, p. 295. 




EARLY EDUCATION OF GIRLS 


69 


The new spirit of inquiry and the growing impor¬ 
tance of the individual during the Renaissance and 
Reformation brought woman some consideration in 
the program of life—consideration, not for her own 
sake, but that she might be the mother of strong men, 
make her husband happy, and so contribute to the 
general welfare. 

Early Education of Girls in the United States.— 

From the time educational ideas were transplanted 
to the New World the early history of the education 
of women in the United States parallels that of the 
Old World. There is the same apparent neglect, 
indicated by the fact that Harvard College was 
founded in 1636, Vassar in 1865. As late as 1684 
the authorities of the Hopkins School in New Haven 
expressed the following sentiments: 

“ .. .and all girls be excluded as improper and inconsistent 
with such a grammar school as ye law injoines and as is the 
Designe of this settlement. ’ ’ 10 

The first need of the New England colonists was to 
secure the necessities of life. In this struggle the 
Greek idea concerning the duties of women persisted. 
Pioneer times were days of necessities and emergen¬ 
cies. The education of women waited, like much else 
that was spiritual and beyond the daily need, for 
the establishment of the material prosperity of 
the country. 

Again, the long-established practice prevailed of 
interpreting the word “ people ” to mean men only. 
In interpreting so worthy a document as the Consti- 

10 Dexter, History of Education m the United States, p. 426. Permis¬ 

sion to reprint given by Macmillan. 



70 FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 


tution of the United States, this custom obtained for 
many years. The early colonists were never indiffer¬ 
ent to education, but leaders for church and state 
were trained first, and women were debarred from 
those fields by tradition and custom. The Puritan 
fathers, judged by the standards of their day, were 
not so ungenerous as they seemed, though their 
scheme for the education of girls offered less to sat¬ 
isfy the craving for beauty and art than did the 
breviary, missal and fine needlework of the mediaeval 
convent. That the cook-book, samplers and spinet 
did fail to satisfy the hunger for knowledge and 
beauty are abundantly proved by the biographies of 
Abigail Adams and Anne Hutchinson. 

The dame school seems to have been the first place 
outside the home which provided any training for 
girls. While the original purpose of the school was 
to train boys, girls were allowed. Crabbe describes 
the school as follows: 

“ When a deaf poor patient widow sits 
And awes some twenty infants as she knits— 

Infants of humble, busy wives who pay 

Some trifling price for freedom through the day, 

At this good matron’s hut the children meet 
Who thus becomes the mother of the street: 

Her room is small, they cannot widely stray, 

Her threshold high, they cannot run away: 

With bands of yarn she keeps offenders in, 

And to her gown the sturdiest can pin.” u 

“ Primitive though it was,” Dexter says, “ it was the only 
source for book-learning for girls, as well as for most of the boys, 
during at least a century of our colonial history. ’ ’ 12 

n Dexter, History of Education in the United States, p. 424. Permis¬ 
sion to reprint given by Macmillan. 

12 Ibid., p. 425. 



CHAPTER VI 

EDUCATION OF THE COLONIAL GIRL 

The collecting of information about the education 
of the colonial girl is a difficult task. Small, who is 
the best available source of information, says: 

“ Facts are meagre on which to base conclusion, and those 
that are available are conflicting. ’ ’ 1 2 

Dorchester, Massachusetts, deserves honorable 
mention as having the earliest school records, 1639, in 
which girls are mentioned. The record is followed by 
the statement: 

“ It was left to the discretion of the elders, and the seven 
men, whether maids shall be taught with the boys or not.” 

History shows the seven wise men considered the 
risk too great. Dorchester comes to the front again 
about 150 years later. By that time the maids had 
shown such ability in answering the two questions 
allotted to them in the annual catechising that the 
town voted— 

“—that such girls as can read in a Psalter be allowed to go 
to the grammar school from the first day of June to the first 
day of October,” but even then the record shows that the 11 girls 
were to go at different hours as the selectmen shall determine.” 3 

Farmington, Connecticut, has its distinction, too. 

“ Whereas the town, at a meeting held December, 1687, 
agreed to give twenty pounds as is there expressed, to teach all 

1 Small, Walter H., Early New Englmd Schools, p. 275. 

2 Ibid., p. 283. 


71 



72 FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 


such as shall be sent, the town declared that ‘ all such ’ is to 
be understood only male children that are through their 
horn book. ’ ’ 3 

There is much evidence that this interpretation 
was the general practice and that girls were very 
generally debarred. 

Types of Schools.—Boston made history in 1789 
by establishing a great reform in the shape of double- 
headed schools “ to which the youth of both sexes 
were admitted at different hours of the day.” 

Again, Gloucester voted in 1790— 

“—that two of the eight hours of daily instruction be devoted 
to girls, as they are a tender and interesting branch of the 
community but have been much neglected in the public schools 
of this town. ’ ’ 4 

And so the story runs. In the records of two hun¬ 
dred towns studied by Superintendent Small there 
were less than a dozen grammar schools for girls dur¬ 
ing the first century of colonial history. Benjamin 
Mudge says: 

“ In all my school days, which ended in 1801, I never saw 
but three females in public schools, and they were there only in 
the afternoon to learn to write. ’ * 5 

Private Schools.—Private schools for girls were 
not uncommon. The schoolmaster was able to in¬ 
crease his earnings by that method, particularly as the 
girls were willing to go either before or after the hours 
custom set apart for the men. Nathan Hale writes 
in 1774: 


8 Small, Walter H., Early New England Schools, p. 277. 

4 Education, Vo! 22, p. 535. 

0 Small, Walter H., Early New England Schools, p. 279. 



EDUCATION OF THE COLONIAL GIRL 


73 


“ I have kept during the summer a morning school 
between the hours of five and seven for which I have received 
six shillings a scholar by the quarter. ’ ’ 6 

Reverend Jacob Baily writes to a friend in 1758: 

“ My school continues to increase, and I have already 
between twenty and thirty misses who come to school, dressed 
in sacks and ruffles. They make a very pretty appearance. We 
conclude at evening by singing one of Dr. Watts' hymns, or 
else his Sapphic ode, and the house is built in such a manner 
that it leaves nothing to be desired in the melody and the order 
and decency which attend it. ’’ 7 

One point of view about education is presented by 
a discussion on the subject of a female school at Ply¬ 
mouth, Massachusetts, in 1793. 

“ One opponent of the scheme lamented the prospect of this 
departure from long-established methods, declaring that the 
world would come to a pretty pass, as he termed it, when wives 
and daughters would look over the shoulders of their husbands 
and fathers and offer to correct as they wrote such errors in 
spelling as they might commit . 9 r 8 

School instruction had its amusing side and per¬ 
plexing questions then as now. The teachers were 
men, and when the girls went from the dame school, 
where they were taught sewing, knitting and improve¬ 
ment in manners, they naturally took some of their 
handiwork with them. It is reported that one school¬ 
master, from whom a pupil sought help with her knit¬ 
ting, advised her to narrow, and so soon brought the 
stocking to a point, while another followed the in- 

6 Small, Walter H., Early New England Schools, p. 289 

1 Ibid., p. 282. 

* Ibid., p. 281. 



74 FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 


structions to widen, until her stocking reached the 
size of a meal bag. 

Finishing Schools.—Then, as now, girls were sent 
from home to have the benefits of the society of others 
and to learn independence of action. The diary of 
Anne Winslow gives a picture of the training she had 
in Boston in the winter of 1771 and 1772. 

“ I have spun,” she writes, February 22,1772, “ thirty knots 
of linning-yam and (partly) new-footed a pair of stockings for 
Lucinda, read a part of the 4 Pilgrim’s Progress,’ copied part 
of my text journal, play’d some, tuck’d a great deal (Aunt 
Deming says it is very true), laugh’d enough, and I tell aunt 
it is all human nature, if not human reason.” 

On March 9th she writes: 

“ I think this day’s work may be called a piece-meal, for 
in the first place I sew’d on the bosom of unkle’s shirt, mended 
two pair of gloves, mended for the wash two handkerchiefs (one 
cambrick), sewed on half a border of a lawn apron of aunts, 
read part of the XXIst chapter of Exodus, and a story in the 
* Mother’s Gift.’ Now Hon’d Mamma, I must tell you of some¬ 
thing that happened to me today, that has not happen’d before 
this great while, viz., my Unkle and Aunt both told me, I was 
a very good girl.” 9 

An analysis of this training shows that the educa¬ 
tion of Anne dealt not only with housewifely duties 
but also prepared her for participation in church and 
social life. 

In 1775, Abigail Foote of Connecticut, wrote in her 
diary of the pursuits she followed: 

“ Fix’d gown for Prude,—Mend Mother’s Riding-hood,— 
Spun short thread,—Fix’d two gowns for Welsh’s girls,— 
Carded tow,—Spun linen,—Worked on Cheese-basket,— 


* Talbot, Education of Women, p. 5. 



EDUCATION OF THE COLONIAL GIRL 


75 


Hatchel’d flax with Hannah, we did 51 lbs. a-piece,—Pleated 
and ironed,—Read a sermon of Doddridge’s,—Spooled a piece,— 
—Milked the cows,— Spun linen, did 50 knots,—Made a Broom 
of Guinea-wheat straw,—Spun thread to whiten,—Set a Red 
dye,—Had two scholars from Mrs. Taylor’s,—I carded two 
pounds of whole wool and felt Nationly,—Spun harness twine, 
scoured the pewter. ’ ’ 10 

One can understand better from this statement 
what training the colonial woman had in initiative 
and resourcefulness, as well as in skill and industry. 
To be able to say, in the midst of such a variety of 
occupations, that she had “ f elt Nationly” is no 
small achievement. 

Woodbridge summarizes female education for the 
half-century from 1770-1830, as follows: 

“ Schools open from 2 to 6 months; the curriculum— 
assembly, catechism, spelling, reading, writing, rarely 
arithmetic. ’ ’ * 11 

He gives the example of a girl sent to Boston one 
quarter for needlework, dancing and to improve her 
manners in good and genteel company. To complete 
this education, another quarter the year following was 
spent in Boston; and a third quarter for the finishing 
process was then allowed her at the school of a lady in 
Hartford. 

The Academy.—Slowly but surely a way was 
opened to the public schools. The successive steps 
were: dame school, reading school, the much-prized 
school of penmanship, double-headed school, and pri¬ 
vate school. In the latter part of the 18th century, a 

10 Talbot, Education of Women, p. 7. 

11 Barnard’s American Journal of Education, Vol. 16, pp. 137 ff. 


O: 



76 FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 


new instrument of education appeared which marks 
a real advance in opportunities for education of girls 
—the academy. It brought an enlargement of the cur¬ 
riculum and the benefits of co-education. The acade¬ 
mies brought to general education the recognition of 
the new spirit in the introduction of science and a 
preparation for life. Later, it opened to the girls a 
way for preparation for teaching. The Franklin 
Academy at Philadelphia, and the Moravian School 
for Girls at Bethlehem, are among the earliest schools 
of this type. Timothy Dwight’s Academy at Green¬ 
field Hill, 1785, Joseph Emerson’s Academy at By¬ 
field, Mass., 1818, and Abbot Academy at Andover, 
Mass., are of peculiar interest because in these acade¬ 
mies were trained the pioneers in the education for 
women—Zilpah Grant, Mrs. Emma Hart Willard 
and Mary Lyon. 

The Public Schools.—The story of the organiza¬ 
tion of the Boston High School for girls seems a fit¬ 
ting end for this part of the record. 

“ On September 25, 1825, the city council appropriated 
$2000 for a high school for girls. The school was instituted 
January 13, 1825, and before the end of the second year had 
become so popular, the applicants for admission were so 
numerous, so many parents were disappointed that children 
were not received, the demand for larger and better accommoda¬ 
tions involved such additional expenditures, that the school 
committee, under the lead of the mayor, Josiah Quincy, met the 
emergency by abolishing the school and pronouncing it a failure. 
For a period of twenty-three years no attempt was made to 
revive the subject in either branch of the city council. ,, 12 

12 Report of the U. 8. Commissioner of Education , 1871, p. 512. 



CHAPTER VII. 

NEW LEADERS—NEW INSTRUMENTS 
OF EDUCATION 

The education of women had been very largely in 
the hands of men and chiefly for the home activities, 
the church and social duties connected with home and 
church. But as civilization advanced, new ideas 
occupied the thoughts of both men and women. The 
academies brought school and life closer together. The 
monitorial system, the Sunday school and the infant 
school were steps by which women came into the pro¬ 
fession of teaching. The second quarter of the 19th 
century was a time of great social, political and eco- 
' nomic changes in our national life, which profoundly 
changed the status of woman. The growth of cities, 
the rise of the factory system, the extension of suf¬ 
frage for men, transcendentalism in life and litera¬ 
ture, and anti-slavery agitation, were indications of 
new conceptions. 

New Leaders.—The time had arrived when 
women were to have a part in determining the poli¬ 
cies in regard to the education of women, and the 
academies furnished the means for introducing three 
very important leaders. Emma Hart Willard, Mary 
Lyon and Catharine Beecher are the three great per¬ 
sonalities who wrought wondrously well for their kind 
in the second quarter of the 19th century. Catharine 
Beecher’s work is to be discussed later. 


77 


78 FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 

Emma Hart Willard and Mary Lyon both came of 
frugal, industrious, pious New England stock. Both 
knew the privations of limited means in their early 
life, but were also taught that there was always 
something to share with less fortunate neighbors. 
They early learned the meaning and grace of 
real hospitality. 

Emma Hart Willard, 1787-1870.—Mrs. Willard 

was ten years the senior of Mary Lyon. Success 
crowned her efforts as teacher, first in the village 
school of her native town, Berlin, Connecticut, later at 
Westfield, Massachusetts, and Middlebury, Vermont. 
Her keen mind recognized the superior advantages 
offered to men by the college at Middlebury and her 
desire was increased to bring similar opportunities to 
women. She sought cooperation with the college and 
the authorities gladly availed themselves of the oppor¬ 
tunity to attend her classes and examinations but 
denied her the same privilege in return. Love and 
marriage enriched her life, but the illness of her 
husband and the consequent failure in his health sent 
her back to the school in Middlebury in 1814. Her 
work for education there, at Waterford, New York, 
and at Troy Female Seminary, Troy, New York, con¬ 
tinued for thirty-five years. 

The breadth of her vision, and her insight into the 
needs of the day for the progress of women, are shown 
by the plans which she made for the accomplishment 
of her purpose. She had the vision to see and the 
courage to say: 


NEW INSTRUMENTS OF EDUCATION 


79 


“ The character of children will be formed by their mothers 
and it is through the mothers that the government can control 
the character of its future citizens.’’ 

Because of the greatness of this task she sought 
state appropriation for the work. She named as the 
essentials for the seminary she sought to found: 

1. Suitable buildings for dormitory and class¬ 
rooms. 

2. Library, well equipped with books, charts, maps 

and good paintings. 

3. Judicious board of trustees. 

4. Instruction— 

Moral and religious 
Literary 
Domestic 
Ornamental 

In thus recognizing the fourfold necessities of the 
woman’s nature, she was far in advance of her day. 
Again, the changes in methods of instruction, the in¬ 
troduction of higher mathematics, the use of maps, 
charts, and the historic tree which she devised for the 
teaching of history and geography, and the improved 
texts which she wrote proved the originality and re¬ 
sourcefulness of her mind. 

Life had endowed her with personal gifts and 
graces, and a buoyant, optimistic spirit which made 
for her many friends. Her vision and keen mental 
ability gave her a place among the leaders of thought 
and action. No successes and no discouragements 
turned her from life’s purpose,—the all- ’rounddevel- 


80 FACTOES IN THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 


opment, recognition and progress of woman. To this 
end she established Troy Seminary, appealed to the 
New York legislature for its support, devised new 
methods of teaching, greatly enriched the curriculum, 
wrote, spoke, travelled abroad, toiled, prayed, wept, 
thanked God, and, more than all, demonstrated in her 
own life the possibilities of the woman she preached. 

After her retirement from Troy Seminary, the 
condition of the common schools appealed to Mrs. 
Willard. Upon invitation from those in authority, 
first in Connecticut and later in New York, she met 
with the County Superintendents and urged a local 
advisory board with some women members. By re¬ 
quest of the County Superintendents in 1845, Mrs. 
Willard spoke at a number of institutes in order to 
promulgate this local interest in the schools. She 
wrote also a reading book for the common schools. 

Mary Lyon, 1797-1849.—Mary Lyon’s life meas¬ 
ured in years almost parallels the first half of the 
19th century. Like Mrs. Willard, she had a passion 
for learning. One of the earliest accounts of her 
schooldays is to the effect that in a single recitation in 
arithmetic she covered the work taken by the class in 
a term, and later, it is said, she performed the marvel¬ 
ous feat of acquiring the essentials of Latin grammar 
in three days. Her attitude toward life was not so 
comfortable as that of Mrs. Willard. Intensity was 
a marked characteristic of her nature, for her life 
was full of struggle and a constant practice of making 
much out of little. 


NEW INSTRUMENTS OF EDUCATION 


81 


When 16 years of age she taught school for 75 cents 
per week and i 6 boarded ’round. 5 ’ Alternate teaching 
and study to secure an education occupied the years 
of her girlhood until 1821, when she went to Joseph 
Emerson’s Academy at Byfield, Mass. Emerson had 
attracted the attention of educators by championing 
the cause of education for women, as was evidenced 
by the introduction of mathematics and philosophy 
into the course of study. Here Miss Lyon met Zilpah 
Grant, then acting as assistant to Mr. Emerson. 

The associations in the academy brought many 
changes in Mary Lyon and greatly increased her use¬ 
fulness. Her passion for knowledge was broadened 
by a recognition of the claims and duties of daily life, 
and from Miss Grant she learned attention to and care 
of dress and personal appearance. Her savings were 
soon exhausted and she returned to teaching, but with 
a different purpose, not only that she might secure 
money wherewith to study again as had been her cus¬ 
tom for years, but also that she might help others to 
see the benefits of education. In short, she became a 
real missionary for Christian education, which con¬ 
tinued to be the dominating purpose of her life. The 
Bible was her chief text-book and devotion to 
Christian living her dominant motive. 

During her last teaching at Buckland, Mass., Miss 
Lyon wrote to Miss Grant: 

“I am doing more than ever before for individuals and 
especially for the dull and less industrious.I have not a 

6 



82 FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 


single half-hour from eight in the morning to nine in the 
evening on which I can depend . 9 91 

Her association with Miss Grant was renewed 
when Miss Grant was at the academies at Derry and 
at Ipswich. Nominally, Miss Grant was head of Ips¬ 
wich, but Miss Lyon’s superior vigor and energy 
dominated in the daily program. Moreover, she had 
entire charge for a year and a half in Miss Grant’s 
absence. She put into practice the newer methods 
of instruction, the monitorial system and the 
enlarged course of study, but Biblical instruc¬ 
tion and the development of personal religion were 
the chief characteristics. 

The wish to see a seminary that should be to young 
women what the college was to men, led these women 
to plan for such an institution. The proposal was 
submitted to the trustees but failed to win their sup¬ 
port. Miss Lyon proposed that she and Miss Grant 
should separate on the ground that assistants could do 
the work and that Miss Lyon might do more good 
elsewhere. Evidently her ideas were crystallizing as 
she wrote in 1833: 

“ My thoughts, feelings and judgment are turned toward 
the middle class of society. For this class I want to labor and 
for this class I consider myself rather peculiarly fitted to labor. 
To this class I would devote all the remainder of my strength— 
God willing—not to the higher classes, not to the poorer classes. 
This middle class contains the mainsprings and main wheels 
which are to move the world. ’ ’ 1 2 


1 Barnard: American Journal of Education, Vol. 10, p. 655. 

2 Ibid., p. 663. 



NEW INSTRUMENTS OF EDUCATION 83 

She could not give up the seminary for which she 
had planned and worked and prayed for years. As 
she wrote to a friend, 

11 It has sometimes seemed as if a fire were shut up in 
my bones.” 

This pent-up energy wrought out a plan which 
took shape and secured support in a meeting in Miss 
Lyon’s home in 1834. It was decided that Miss Lyon 
herself should seek free-will offerings to found a per¬ 
manent seminary, and so the “great struggle” was 
undertaken. For two years Miss Lyon went up and 
down the country presenting the cause. No labor 
was too severe; no denial too great. Success at last 
crowned her efforts and the Act incorporating Mt. 
Holyoke Female Seminary was passed by the Massa¬ 
chusetts legislature February 10th, 1836, and the cor¬ 
nerstone laid October 3rd. No wonder she could 
write,—“The stones, brick and mortar speak a lan¬ 
guage which vibrates through my very soul.” And 
in the light of later events her words—“ The work 
will not stop with this institution,”—are pro¬ 
foundly prophetic. 

Miss Lyon’s determination to make education pos¬ 
sible to the great middle class was shown in two ways: 
the low tuition of $60.00 per year, exclusive of fuel 
and light; and the performing of the domestic work 
by members of the school. Of this plan she says: 

11 All are to take a part, not as servile labor for which they 
are to receive a small weekly remuneration, but as a gratuitous 
service to the institution of which they are members.” 


84 FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 

And again Miss Lyon says: 

“ Endeavors have been made to organize a school and form 
a family that from day to day might illustrate the precepts and 
spirit of the gospel.” 

In a day when the higher education of women was 
opposed on the ground of its bad results on family life, 
it was a wise arrangement to have as a basic principle 
in the seminary life, the observance of the principles 
of family life in service, and domestic duties as a part 
of the daily program. Miss Lyon spoke of the scheme 
of housework as a means of keeping all on a basis of 
equality, of promoting health and happiness by exer¬ 
cise, and independence from the will of hired domes¬ 
tics. Something of the spirit of the service may have 
been lost, but the practice then established is contin¬ 
ued today in the system of cobperative housekeeping 
found in so many college communities. 

The curriculum of the new seminary contained all 
that was best in the development of higher education, 
even to the laboratory method in science, then a fea¬ 
ture almost unknown. For twelve years Mary Lyon 
had the happiness of seeing the work of her hands 
prosper and her pupils carry the message of Christian 
education to the ends of the earth. 

Oberlin College.—In 1833, when the academies, 
the seminaries and the public schools were doing their 
part in the progress of the education of women, an en¬ 
tirely new factor was added by the founding of Ober¬ 
lin College. It owed its foundation to the zeal 
of two home missionaries from New England, who 


NEW INSTRUMENTS OF EDUCATION 


85 


were anxious to establish in the West a community 
which should maintain Christian standards. But 
they builded far better than they knew, for Oberlin 
became the source of many new ideas, in reality a 
pioneer in co-education, in college education for 
women, in abolishing race distinction in the admis¬ 
sion of students, and later in becoming a center of 
anti-slavery and missionary activities. 

In those days Oberlin was a long distance from 
Massachusetts, yet among the students were some 
women who had been with Zilpah Grant and Mary 
Lyon at Ipswich. The Oberlin authorities sought to 
provide the same educational opportunities for 
women as for men, but comparatively few women were 
properly prepared. To meet this lack, a preparatory 
department was established. The Female Depart¬ 
ment received “ young ladies of good minds, unblem¬ 
ished morals and respectable attainments.” 

But the college ideal held its place, and in 1837 
four women, fitted for college work, presented them¬ 
selves at Oberlin. In 1841, three women enjoyed the 
distinction of being the first to receive an, Arts degree 
in the United States and were pioneers in the long 
procession of college women graduates. 

The First Normal School.—The founding of the 
first state normal school at Lexington, Mass., in 1839, 
and the founding of New England Female Medical 
College in 1842 were indicative of the broadening 
outlook for women and the recognition of the need of 
definite training for special work. 


86 FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 

While the years from 1830 to 1850 saw the begin¬ 
nings of a higher education for women, of the twenty- 
two institutions for women founded before 1850, but 
two were in the North Atlantic states and but two, Mt. 
Holyoke and Rockford, reached and maintained the 
college standard. In 1836, the first woman’s college 
was founded in the South, and a number of so-called 
women’s colleges were also shortly organized. Among 
these, the Wesleyan Female College at Macon, Ga., 
was authorized to grant degrees. Out of thirty-nine 
colleges founded between 1850 and 1859, thirty-two 
were in that region. 

“ Of the women’s colleges founded in the decade of the ’50 % 
but one—Elmira College—has risen to first rank. In date, this 
precedes Vassar, having been organized in 1855, and is sometimes 
spoken of as the first college for women. ’ ’ 3 

Horace Mann.—Horace Mann, famous as the 
Secretary of Education for Massachusetts and expo¬ 
nent of the public school system in America, had 
already made many valuable contributions to educa¬ 
tion before he accepted the presidency of Antioch Col¬ 
lege, 1852, and championed the higher education of 
women. In his inaugural, he discussed the ob j ections 
to co-education which then prevailed; the fears that 
the physical strain might prove too great, that the 
morals and manners might suffer by daily contact 
with men and that their mental ability might prove 
inadequate. He showed the economic impossibility, 

8 Dexter, History of Education, p. 434 ff. Permission to reprint given 
by Macmillan. 



NEW INSTRUMENTS OF EDUCATION 87 

for many years at least, of duplicating equipment for 
maintaining separate plants for the education of men 
and women. He argued that a certain amount of 
social intercourse between boys and girls was not only 
natural but beneficial. 

Women’s Colleges.—In the decade immediately 
following the Civil War, education advanced by 
leaps and bounds. Land-grant colleges, and techni¬ 
cal schools, such as Massachusetts Institute of Tech¬ 
nology, Lehigh University, Worcester Polytechnic 
Institute, followed each other in rapid succession. 
And at this time the women, too, marched in the pro¬ 
cession. Vassar, 1865, Smith, 1873, Wellesley, 1875, 
and Bryn Mawr, 1885, were tangible and indisputable 
evidence that the advocates of higher education for 
women had won a decisive victory. Also, the educa¬ 
tion of women was given a great impetus by co-edu¬ 
cation in the newly organized land-grant colleges. 

Matthew Yassar, Sophia Smith, Henry Durant, 
Joseph Taylor, each in his own way gave of his 
thought and material substance to provide institu¬ 
tions of learning that should, in the words of the foun¬ 
der of Bryn Mawr, afford young women “ all the 
advantages of a college education which are so freely 
offered to young men.” 4 

Matthew Vassar.—The general purpose of these 
founders is perhaps best expressed by the statement 
of Matthew Yassar in February, 1861: 


4 Butler Education in United States , p. 237. 



88 FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 

“ It having pleased God that I should have no descendants 
to inherit my property, it has long been my desire, after suitably 
providing for those of my kindred who have claims on me’ to 
make such a disposition of my means as should best honor God 
and benefit my fellowmen. At different periods I have regarded 
various plans with favor, but these have all been dismissed one 
after another, until the Subject of Erecting and Endowing a 
College for the Education of Young Women was presented for 
my consideration. The novelty, grandeur, and benignity of 
the idea arrested my attention. The more carefully I examined 
it, the more strongly it commended itself to my judgment and 
interested my feelings. 

“ It occurred to me that woman, having received from her 
Creator the same intellectual constitution as man, has the same 
right as man to intellectual culture and development. 

“ I considered that the Mothers of a country mold the char¬ 
acter of its citizens, determine its institutions, and shape 
its destiny. 

“ Next to the influence of the mother, is that of the Female 
Teacher, who is employed to train young children at a period 
when impressions are most vivid and lasting. 

“ It also seemed to me, that if woman were properly edu¬ 
cated, some new avenues to useful and honorable employment, 
in entire harmony with the gentleness and modesty of her sex, 
might be opened to her. 

“ It further appeared, there is not in our country, there is 
not in the world, so far as is known, a single fully endowed 
institution for the education of women. 

“ It was also in evidence that, for the last thirty years, the 
standard of education for the sex has been constantly rising in 
the United States; and the great, felt, pressing want has been 
ample endowments, to secure to Female Seminaries the elevated 
character, the stability and permanency of our best Colleges. 

“ And now, gentlemen, influenced by these and similar con¬ 
siderations, after devoting my best powers to the study of the 
subject for a number of years past; after duly weighing the 
objections against it, and the arguments that preponderate in its 
favor; and the project having received the warmest commenda- 


89 


NEW INSTRUMENTS OF EDUCATION 

tions of many prominent literary men and practical educators, as 
well as the universal approval of the public press, I have come 
to the conclusion that the establishment and endowment of a 
College for the education of young women is a work which will 
satisfy my highest aspirations, and will be, under God, a rich 
blessing to this city and state, to our country and the world. 

' “I wish that the course of study should embrace at least 
the following particulars: The English Language and its 
Literature; other Modern Languages; the Ancient Classics, so 
far as may be demanded by the spirit of the times; the Mathe¬ 
matics, to such an extent as may be deemed advisable; all the 
branches of Natural Science with full apparatus, cabinets, 
collections, and conservatories for visible illustration; Anatomy, 
Physiology, and Hygiene, with practical reference to the laws 
of the health of the sex; Intellectual Philosophy; the elements 
of Political Economy; some knowledge of the Federal and State 
Constitutions and Laws; Moral Science, particularly as bearing 
on the filial, conjugal, and parental relations; Aesthetics, as 
treating of the beautiful in Nature and Art, and to be illustrated 
by an extensive Gallery of Art; Domestic Economy, practically 
taught, so far as possible, in order to prepare the graduates 
readily to become skilful housekeepers; last, and most important 
of all, the daily, systematic reading and study of the Holy 
Scriptures, as the only and all-sufficient rule of Christian faith 
and practice. ’ ’ 5 

While these four colleges, Yassar, Wellesley, 
Smith and Bryn Mawr, were alike in general pur¬ 
pose, and had for their standard the education then 
afforded in the colleges for men, each founder left his 
individual emphasis. 

Sophia Smith, founder of Smith College, opened 
in 1875, made four stipulations for the institution: 

“ First, the educational advantages given in it would be 
equal to those afforded young men in their colleges. Second, 


6 “Vassar College and its Founder p. 97. 



90 FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 

Biblical study and Christian religious culture would be promi¬ 
nent. Third, the cottage system of buildings, or homes for the 
students, instead of one mammoth central building, would pre¬ 
vail. Fourth, men would have a part in the government and 
instruction in it as well as women, for it is a misfortune for 
young women or young men to be educated wholly by their 
own kind. ’ ’ 6 

Henry Durant, himself almost a religious ascetic, 
founded Wellesley, in 1875, “ as a college for the 
glory of God by the education and culture of women.” 
He wished to educate the daughters of missionaries 
and ministers for the continuance of such service and 
in the early days a deeply religious spirit pervaded 
the school. 

Bryn Mawr College, founded by Joseph Taylor 
and opened in 1885, from the first emphasized schol¬ 
arship and provided for graduate work. Since its 
productive funds were larger, Bryn Mawr was 
enabled the more quickly to realize this purpose. 

As the higher education of women grew iiumportance 
and popularity, the older institutions for men yielded 
slowly to the demands of women and opened their 
doors. The West led in the movement for co-educa¬ 
tion. Some of the state universities, notably, Utah, 
1850, Iowa, 1856, Washington, 1862, Minnesota, 1868, 
and Nebraska, 1871, admitted women from the time 
of their organization. In 1870, Michigan, Illinois, 
California, and Missouri opened their doors to 
women. From that date the movement became gen¬ 
eral in the West. 

•Thwing: History of Higher Education in America, p. 344. 



NEW INSTRUMENTS OF EDUCATION 91 

Owing to the prejudice against co-education in 
the South and East, a different type of institution, the 
affiliated college, developed in those sections. The H. 
Sophie Newcomb Memorial College for Women, 
affiliated with Tulane University, 1886, was the first of 
its kind. The College for Women of Western Reserve 
University, Barnard College of Columbia University, 
and Radcliffe at Harvard, belong to this type. The 
advantages claimed for this type of college were that 
they made available to the women students the equip¬ 
ment, library, and instructional force of the older 
institution, though in some cases two distinct facul¬ 
ties were maintained. 

Higher education for women, then, crystallized 
into three types of colleges: colleges for women, upon 
separate foundations; women’s colleges affiliated 
with universities for men; co-educational institu¬ 
tions in which both sexes have equal privileges. 


CHAPTER VIII 


CO-EDUCATION A FACTOR IN THE 
EDUCATION OF WOMEN 

It took about two hundred years to open the doors 
of institutions of higher education to women. Most of 
the progress was made in the latter half of the nine¬ 
teenth century, in fact, in the last quarter as far as 
tangible agencies are concerned. The deed, however, 
was accomplished by 1900 for graduate departments 
in universities, and quite generally by that date for 
professional schools, although a few such schools are 
still to open their doors to women. 

Many agencies were helpful in bringing about this 
recognition of the needs and rights of women to edu¬ 
cational privileges,—the Woman’s Educational Asso¬ 
ciation; the Collegiate Alumnas, now the American 
Association of University Women; the Federation of 
Women’s Clubs; the public press. Co-education has 
been the most important single factor in the develop¬ 
ment of the education of women. The agencies 
through which this method came into use are:—the 
public schools, where co-education was introduced for 
economic reasons; the pioneer spirit of the West, 
which gave to women social and civic rights unknown 
in the East; but the most powerful agency has been 
the land-grant college and state university. 

Co-education seems so well established now that 


CO-EDUCATION A FACTOR 


93 


many a student of today assumes that it has always 
been the approved method. To avoid such a mistaken 
notion, much space in this text is devoted to the dis¬ 
cussion of the subject of co-education as carried on by 
the leaders in educational policies at the opening of 
the twentieth century because it seems as if home eco¬ 
nomics on a scientific basis would certainly have been 
delayed for years had it not been for the development 
of co-education in the land-grant colleges. 

Discussion of Co-education.—Some of the differ¬ 
ent points of view regarding the subject of co-educa¬ 
tion in 1901 are given in the report of the 
commissioner of education, Dr. William T. Harris, 
for that year, and are here summarized. 

Dr. Harris, himself, wrote, in part : 

11 In the third and highest period of industrial development, 
therefore, where physical strength is less and less in demand 
and alertness more and more in demand, woman’s sphere comes 
to be common with that of man, and she needs an education in 
the sciences, arts, and accomplishments necessary to the man. 
Besides this, the realm of productive industry and division of 
labor, aided by labor-saving machines, encroaches upon the 
domain of special labor confined within the limits of the family 
and conquers one after another its drudgery, and reduces it to a 
general branch of industry. The power loom, the sewing and 
knitting machines, the washing machine, the baker, the tailor, 
the manufacturers of preserved and prepared food, etc., are 
rapidly emancipating the slavery inside the family. We can¬ 
not ignore the effect of great social changes arising through the 
invention of labor-saving machinery, and the consequent aggre¬ 
gation of population into the towns and cities where cooperation 
may be availed of. Out of social changes arises the necessity of 
modifications in our systems of education. The demand of 


o 


94 FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 


women for equal advantages in education with men is not a 
mere temporary demand arising out of the sentimentalism 
incident to the epoch, l>ut only an index of the social movement 
that underlies our civilization . The demands on the woman of 
the present day are snch as to compel her to educate herself in 
science, art, and history. Her natural proclivity to versatility 
and alertness of mind fit her in a peculiar sense for the sphere 
of teacher of children. Their arbitrariness and caprice can be 
best watched and foiled by her. Their feeble strength demands 
intermittence and periodicity, and their training must, above all, 
be gentle. To enter into the spheres of productive industry 
opening for her; to assume the place of director in the manage¬ 
ment of the family economy now offered her in exchange for 
that of drudge; to fill her sphere of hostess and conversation¬ 
alist in polite society; to fill the sphere of teacher in the school; 
to enter into the literary domain recently conquered by such 
writers of social novels as George Eliot and George Sand, or 
into the art domain of music and the drama, conquered long 
since; all these conspire to demand for woman discipline, insight, 
and information, studies such as are necessary to initiate man 
into the conventionalities of intelligence. The demand for the 
same course of study is paramount, that for co-education sub¬ 
ordinate, although of considerable importance. ’ 11 

Dr. White.—Dr. E. E. White, Commissioner of 
Education for Ohio, and Superintendent of Schools 
of Cincinnati, made the following statement: 

“We admit that the intellectual, moral, and physical natures 
of men and women are not precisely identical, and this difference 
may be sufficiently marked to justify some diversity in their 
higher education. While we would give a daughter an education 
every whit as thorough and complete as a son, we are not sure 
that we would have their education in every respect precisely 
the same. The diversity would not, however, be sufficiently 
great to necessitate their attending separate schools. Whether 
all our colleges and professional schools should be opened to 

1 [Report of TJ. 8. Commissioner of Education, 1901, Viol. 2, p. 1247. 



CO-EDUCATION A FACTOR 


95 


men and women alike, we are not prepared to decide. We 
would like to see enough of them so opened to afford the women 
of the country the highest educational advantages,; and yet, 
could our word do it, we would, jn addition to the Oberlins and 
Michigan universities for both sexes endow Harvards and 
Yales for women. * ’ 2 

Mile. Dugard. —Mile. Marie Dugard, delegate to 
the Chicago Congresses of 1893, in a report to the 
Minister of the Public Instruction, France, said: 

‘* Of all the features which characterize American education, 
perhaps the most striking is the co-education of young men and 
young women, whether in the public schools (primary and 
grammar schools) and in the high schools, or in the colleges, 
the scientific schools, and universities. At least it is most strik¬ 
ing to a French observer, for it reveals to him a state of mind 
and of habits which is entirely strange to him. The sight of 
youths of sixteen to eighteen years, almost men, working, chat¬ 
ting, and enjoying daily comradeship with young ladies, who, 
by reason of their distinction, elegance, and often a precocious 
beauty, seem not at all like students, confounds all his ideas. 
He is astonished that such an ideal should have sprung up in 
the healthy American mind, and he does not dare to think of the 
results, so opposed do they seem to his moral sense. ’* 3 

President Jordan. —President David Starr Jordan 
of Leland Stanford Junior University, said: 

“ Higher education is not alone a question of preparing great 
men for great things. It must prepare even little men for greater 
things than they would otherwise have! found possible. And so 
it is with the education of women. The needs of the times are 
imperative. The highest product of social evolution is the 
growth of the civilized home—the home that only a wise, culti¬ 
vated, and high-minded woman can make. To furnish such 
women is one of the worthiest functions of higher education. No 
young woman capable of becoming such should be condemned to 
‘ *Ibid., p. 1248. 



96 FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 

anything lower. Even with those who are in appearance too 
dull or too vacillating to reach any high ideal of wisdom, this 
may be said, it does no harm to try. A few hundred dollars is 
not too much to spend on an experiment of such moment. Four 
of the best years of one’s life spent in the company of noble 
thoughts and high ideals cannot fail to leave their impress. To 
be wise, and at the same time womanly, is to wield a tremendous 
influence which may be felt for good in the lives of the generations 
to come. It is not forms of government by which men are made 
or unmade. It is the character and influence of their mothers 
and their wives. The higher education of women means more 
for the future than all conceivable legislative reforms. And its 
influence does not stop with the home. It means higher standards 
of manhood, greater thoroughness of training, and the coming 
of better men. Therefore, let us educate our girls as well as our 
boys. A generous education should be the birthright of every 
daughter of the Republic as well as of every son. 

“ Shall we give our girls the same education as our boys? 
Yes, and no (and the author proceeds with an extended dis¬ 
cussion of the double proposition as to what is implied in the 
word 4 same ’). If we mean by ‘ the same ’ an equal degree of 
breadth and thoroughness, an equal fitness for high thinking and 
wise acting, yes, let it be the same. If we mean this: Shall we 
reach this end by exactly the same course of studies? then my 
answer must be no. For the same course of study will not yield 
the same results with different persons.” 4 

President Thwing.— Coordinate co-education was 
defended by President Thwing of Western Eeserve 
University: 

“ The battle for the higher education of women is an old, 
old battle. The contest has raged mainly about the point of 
co-education. This point was in the beginning more evident, 
more tangible, more real; for women wanted a college education. 
Colleges for men existed. It seemed more natural to open these 
colleges to women than to establish colleges for them. The battle 

4 Report of U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1901, Vol. 2, p. 1285. 



CO-EDUCATION A FACTOR 


97 


for women’s education has been fought out on a preamble. The 
contest has been over a method, but over a method for the sake 
of an end. In this condition it has been easy for everyone 
interested in the college education of women to choose his side 
and his weapons. But it can be said no longer that questioning 
of the wisdom of the method carries along with itself doubt as 
to the excellence of the end. One can now decline to affirm 
that co-education is the best method without laying himself open 
to the imputation of disbelieving in a college training for young 
women. The question of method need no longer be mixed up 
with the rightfulness of the end. The contest is closed. Women 
have secured a recognition of their right to have the best train¬ 
ing which the colleges of the United States or England 
can provide. * * # 

“ It is probable that for an indefinite period there will exist 
in the United States those three methods, the co-educational, the 
separate, and the coordinate. Each of them ought to exist; 
each of them has value; each of them possesses peculiar 
advantages for the needs of certain women; each of them also 
possesses peculiar disadvantages for the conditions and pros¬ 
pects of certain women. The choice of either method is largely 
a matter of taste. The question of method, too, is only one of 
several important questions in giving or withholding one’s 
approval of a college. The question of the richness and fulness 
of curricula and the question of the personality of teachers are 
at least equally important. ’’ 5 

Dr. Harper.—The late Dr. William R. Harper, 
President of Chicago University, in “ Plans Sug¬ 
gested for Increasing the Advantages of University 
life for Women Students’’ wrote as follows: 

“ During the present quarter the women of the university, 
officers, students, and wives of members of the faculty, have 
organized a women’s union. The purpose of the union is to 
unite the women of the university for the promotion of their 
common interest. 

5 Ibid., p. 1297. 

7 



98 FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 


“ The problems which are connected with the life of women 
in a university located in a great city are numerous and compli¬ 
cated. The experience of our nearly ten years of work has 
furnished an important contribution toward the testimony in 
favor of co-education. Not a few members of our faculties, 
unfamiliar with the advantages of co-education, came to the uni¬ 
versity prejudiced against it. A large majority of these have 
become ardent advocates of the co-educational policy. An 
extended statement might be made of the arguments and con¬ 
siderations drawn from our own experience, which speak 
unmistakably in favor of the successful working of the system. 
That co-education is a permanent feature of higher education, 
not only in the West, but also, within a few years, in Eastern 
sections, no one can doubt, and there are few today who, with 
an actual knowledge of the facts, would have it otherwise. It 
is the simple and natural method of conducting educational 
work, and the benefits are equally great to men and women. * * # 
“As a strong believer in co-education, convinced by an 
experience which has included work in connection with typical 

institutions of three kinds.those open only to men, those 

open only to women, and those open to both men and women.... 

I am confident that in the future important progress is to be 
made in this department of educational thought and practice. 
It is hardly possible to suppose that the full significance of 
co-education has yet been appreciated, or that its most complete 
form has yet been attained. The direction in which such 
forward steps may lead us cannot, of course, be accurately pre¬ 
dicted, but they will certainly include (1) a closer definition of 
the term itself; (2) a larger elective privilege on the part of 
women as to the extent to which they shall or shall not mingle 
with men; (3) a similar larger, election on the part of men; (4) 
a larger possibility for the cultivation of what has properly been 
termed the feeling of corporate existence in the institution con¬ 
cerned on the part of both men and women; (5) a larger oppor¬ 
tunity for cultivating the life which is peculiarly woman’s life, 
and, on the other hand, the life which is peculiarly man’s life. 
Certain limitations have already clearly fixed themselves. It is 
enough, perhaps, to say that while co-education is unquestionably 



CO-EDUCATION A FACTOR 


99 


to be recognized as a permanent element in American higher 
education, its exact nature and the limitations which attend it 
will, for a long time, furnish excellent subjects for consideration 
and experiment. It is important that our own university, 
situated in the heart of a great city, drawing its students from 
almost every state, enrolling almost as many women as men, 
should be one of the institutions which shall undertake to make 
contribution to the present knowledge and experience on the 
subject of co-education.’’ 6 

Professor Miinsterberg. —Quite a different note, as 
might be expected, was sounded by the late Professor 
Hugo Miinsterberg, of Harvard University, who rep¬ 
resents the German idea: 

“ Co-education means only equality; but the so-called higher 
education for girls means, under the conditions of the American 
life today, decidedly not the equality, but the superiority 
of women. * * * 

“ The American system injures the national organism, not 
only because it antagonizes the family life, and thus diminishes 
the chances for the future bearers of the national civilization, 
but it has, secondly, the tendency to feminize the whole higher 
culture and thus to injure the national civilization itself. ’ ’ 7 

Association of Collegiate Alumnae. —The Associa¬ 
tion of Collegiate Alumnae (now American Associa¬ 
tion of University Women) made a special inquiry 
into the health of women college graduates and con¬ 
tributed to this report as follows: 

“ Summing up the results of our investigation, we may, I 
think, say with confidence that there is nothing in a university 
education at all especially injurious to the constitution! of women, 
or involving any greater strain than they can ordinarily bear 
without injury. Women generally pass through it without its 
affecting their health one way or the other. * * * 

9 Commissioner’s Report, 1901, Vol. 2, pp. 1287 ff. 

7 Ibid., p. 1298 ff. 


0 



100 FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 


“ The net result of the change is that as large a proportion 
of the women who have had a university education enjoy good 
health now as did so at the time they entered college, while the 
number in poor health, among those who have read for honors, 
is somewhat reduced. These results confirm those of the similar 
inquiry previously conducted in America. 

“ As mothers of healthy families we have seen that the 
students are more satisfactory than their sisters, and so far as 
we can judge quite up to the average of women. ’ ’ 8 

Differentiation of Education for Women. —Presi¬ 
dent Charles W. Eliot, of Harvard University, 
speaking at the 25th anniversary of the founding of 
the Collegiate Alumnae, 1907, gave expression to 
these ideas: 

“ It used to be said that the health of college 
women could not stand the strain of a college course, 
that their morals and manners would suffer by daily 
contact with men, that their mental ability would be 
inferior. Having shown the falsity of all these state¬ 
ments, it would appear that women might spend some 
energy in developing courses of study of particular 
interest to themselves. ” 

Statistics for Co-education 1880-1920. —The fig¬ 
ures for co-education for the last two decades of the 
nineteenth century show the influence of that idea in 
two ways: (1) increase in the number of co-educa- 
tional institutions; and (2) increase in the number 
of women in such institutions. 

In 1880, 51.3 per cent, of higher educational insti¬ 
tutions had adopted the policy of co-education. By 


8 Report of TJ. 8. Commissioner of Education, 1901, Vol. 2, p. 1280. 



CO-EDUCATION A FACTOR 


101 


1890, the number had increased to 65.5 per cent., and 
by 1900 had risen to 71.6 per cent. These figures 
show clearly that, whatever the reason may be, by 
1900 almost three-fourths of higher educational in¬ 
stitutions had adopted the policy of co-education. 
Further, a comparison of women students in co-edu¬ 
cational institutions and in separate colleges for 
women shows a large interest in co-education. 
Dexter says: 

“ The former has increased more than six times while the 
latter has less than doubled in the twenty-five years from 
1875 to 1901.” 9 

Later figures are as follows: 

“ In 1910, there were 43,441 women in co-educational insti¬ 
tutions as against 8,874 in colleges for women. 10 

“ In 1920, the number of women had risen to 96,908 in 
co-educational institutions and to 31,769 in colleges for 
women. ’ y 11 

These figures indicate that in so far as quantity 
production in education is concerned the co-educa¬ 
tional institutions are still far in the lead, though the 
relative proportion of women in them compared with 
the number in women’s colleges is less than in 1900, 
when co-education was so widely discussed. 

Analysis of Discussion.—An analysis of the 
points of view presented in the preceding discussion 
shows: a recognition of woman’s rights to higher edu¬ 
cation as a necessity for herself and vital to the life 
of the nation; an appreciation of the great enlarge- 


9 Dexter: History of Education in TJ. 8., p. 449. 

10 Monroe: Cyclopedia of Education, Vol. 5, p. 808. 

11 U. 8. Bureau of Education, Bulletin No. 28, 1922. 



102 FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 


ment of the field of woman’s activities which resulted 
from industrial and social changes in civilization and 
a consequent need for different training for women; 
a general feeling that consideration must be given to 
the different functions of men and women in society; 
and, finally, a very general agreement that co-educa¬ 
tion is a powerful and probably permanent factor 
in education, valuable not only because of economic 
reasons, but also of yet greater significance—because 
comradeship in education fits both men and women 
for a better appreciation of the world’s work and of 
their respective parts in it. 

Neither men nor women overlooked the biological 
argument for difference in training for men and 
women because they have different functions in 
society. Neither men nor women were willing that 
the best interests of the home should suffer from any 
cause, and particularly not by the hand of woman. 
Co-education was clearly one great step in the evolu¬ 
tion of women. The question arose what was to be 
the next step. 

An excellent answer to this question was given in 
1907 by Dr. Elmer E. Brown, then United States Com¬ 
missioner of Education. 

44 The question of woman’s higher education in America 
seems to me to lie about as follows: That, after the great advance 
we have made in this field, which has commanded the attention 
of the world and the admiration of a good part of the world, we 
have come to something like a standstill, and some of the most 
important steps have not been taken as yet. It has taken a 
great struggle to establish fully the higher education of woman 


CO-EDUCATION A FACTOR 


103 


as a simple human need. But that battle has been wan. The 
integration of woman’s education with the general scheme of 
education has been brought about. But the differentiation of 
woman’s education is yet to be accomplished. Let us admit that 
the task of integration was by far the greater task. But does it 
follow that the differentiation of woman’s education is no task 
at all ? Or to put it in other words: the functions of men and 
women in society are different in many ways. Do those dif¬ 
ferences lie wholly beyond the range of education ? I am confi¬ 
dent that they cannot permanently be left outside of the range 
of education; but the task of bringing them under educational 
treatment is one of the greatest difficulties. It calls for the 
highest exercise of inventive skill and patience. In co-educational 
institutions, under a system of free election, the problem tends 
to solve itself by the gravitation of women toward certain courses 
and of men toward certain other courses, while still other courses 
are common ground. But this solution is only partial and 
unsatisfactory. Some practical scheme of preparation for 
mother-work will, we cannot doubt, be devised in the course of 
time. There will be, some day, an education for home making 
and for woman’s leading part in the finer forms of social inter¬ 
course, which will do on the higher academic plane what was 
done in a more petty way, generations ago, in popular finishing 
schools for girls . But this, too, is only a part. There is to be, 
further, a serious preparation for woman’s part in the economic, 
the industrial, and even the political world.” 12 

This statement of Commissioner Brown shows 
clearly that woman through education had entered 
into the larger life; the question of her path in it, how¬ 
ever, was yet to be worked out. 


n Science, N. S., Vol. 26, p. 168, August, 9, 1907. 




CHAPTER IX 

STATUS OF WOMEN’S EDUCATION AT THE 
END OF THE 19TH CENTURY 

The trend of the times is shown by the topics dis¬ 
cussed in educational literature of the day. What 
follows are extracts taken from three addresses *by 
leaders of note. Attention is called first to the sug¬ 
gestive titles: “The Home and Higher Education” 
—Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, leader in the suffrage 
movement; “ Practical Applications of All Learning 
to Better Living”—Richie; “Cross Purposes in 
Education”—Sarah Louise Arnold, Dean of Sim¬ 
mons College. 

Mrs. Catt: 

“We may not locate the new home in space. We may not 
describe its material equipment, but we may rest assured that so 
long as time shall last, whenever two congenial souls shall meet, 
they will unite in the old, sweet way, ever new, and where they 
pause, there will be a home. That home will continue to be the 
bulwark of our nation and our race. Children will come to it, 
more beautiful, better born, and better trained than we have 
been. The tenderness of mother love planted ages ago in our 
animal ancestors will never know its divinest flower until women, 
under the influence of encouragement and incentive, have de¬ 
veloped to their highest and their best. In the transition, which 
we could not stay if we would, the eternal forces of evolution 
may be trusted to save the race from mistakes too serious. Mean¬ 
while it is our present duty to hail each college woman, as well as 
each college man, as a possible apostle of the higher life, and our 
safest guide will be the motto, ‘Liberty to all, curtailment of op¬ 
portunity and growth to none. ’ ’ 1 
104 


STATUS OF WOMEN’S EDUCATION 


105 


David L. Kiehle.—Professor of Pedagogy, Uni¬ 
versity of Minnesota: 

‘ ‘ The industries and the technical schools opened to her were 
planned for men, and from them she must choose those adapted 
to her tastes and capacities. This condition has prevailed and 
still prevails throughout state institutions with few exceptions. # # 

‘ 4 Surely this is great progress, one in which our country takes 
precedence over all others. And yet this is not the goal for 
women and their education. The significance of what we have 
done is, insofar as men and women have common abilities 
common rights, and common aims, they may study and labor 
together; but beyond the point of differentiation, in a department 
of life which belongs pre-eminently and exclusively to woman, 
namely, the home and motherhood, no provision has been made. 
So noticeable is this neglect that the criticism has been provoked 
that we are educating daughters for shopkeepers and artisans, 
instead of for wives and mothers and homemakers. ’ 7 2 

Dean Arnold. ‘ ‘ If the maintenance of a finer order of home 
is a matter of deepest concern to the community, it logically fol¬ 
lows that the appropriate training of the mother, the homemaker, 
is essential to the general welfare. We shall be wise, then, to 
test every plan for the education of ‘women, not merely with 
questions of immediate expediency or of personal advantage, but 
always with the thought of the larger contribution to the com¬ 
mon good, and the higher function which woman can never sur¬ 
render. If our schemes of education are compatible with the 
fullest development in these directions, let us, by all means, urge 
them on. But, if they diminish her allegiance to these finer 
ideals or permit her to accept a cheaper substitute for this noble 
service, let them go—however they may seem to meet the demands 
of the hour. * * # 

“ The education of women should insure, first, the general 
schooling which is essential alike to the development of both boy 
and girl; second—for the sake of the individual, as well as the 

1 Report of National Educational Association, 1902, p. 110. 

2 Ibid., p. 184. 



106 FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 


community—preparation for self-maintenance, whether this duty 
is immediately imperative or distantly possible; and third, ade¬ 
quate preparation for the responsibilities involved in the direction 
of the home. # * 

“We cannot too gratefully acknowledge the beneficent service 
of the college for women, yet it has not completely fulfilled its 
function; for it is of the deepest importance that the college 
woman with her far-reaching influence, should, from the begin¬ 
ning, conceive the true proportions of a woman ? s education; that 
her standard of liberal education for woman should include ade¬ 
quate preparation for her sacred and imperative task. But 
is it not true today that the girl may complete her prescribed 
course in the academy or college, receiving with credit the 
diploma and degree, and yet may not have heard within the school 
or college walls any reference to the tasks and responsibilities 
which her home will bring her? Here are ‘ cross purposes ’ 
indeed; for does not this very fact, the exclusion of such refer¬ 
ence—and with it the ignoring by common consent of any study 
or subject which, would fit her for her essential function—estab¬ 
lish a trend away from the proper consideration of such duties 
and responsibilities? In our efforts to secure a generous educa¬ 
tion for women, have not come to over-emphasize and overesti¬ 
mate scholastic ability, to magnify schooling, and to minimize 
the value of the qualities and of the knowledge which are essential 
to the fullest development—and particularly that knowledge 
and those qualities upon which her success in her home adminis¬ 
tration mil depend. ’ ’ 3 

The review of the situation with regard to the 
education of women at the beginning of the twentieth 
century as presented by these leaders in educational 
ideas, brings one face to face with the gravity of the 
situation—with the anxiety of these leaders concern¬ 
ing the next step in education for women, with the 
tremendous opportunities and obligations which they 

8 Report of National Educational Association, 1908, p. 95, Sarah 
Louise Arnold. 





STATUS OF WOMEN’S EDUCATION 


107 


saw were just ahead. The field of woman’s efforts 
had been greatly enlarged, the tools of her life work 
changed. All agreed that adjustment to a new order 
was the call of the hour. Women had no desire to 
evade their high duty as conservers of the race. The 
home was still the bulwark of the nation, but it was in 
many ways a new home, in which all that was best of 
the old was to be retained, modified by new conditions 
and with new problems. The ingenuity and inven¬ 
tiveness of the old days were needed more than ever 
but they had to be exercised in a different way. Wise 
selection was more difficult because of the number and 
variety of materials from which to choose. Demands 
from outside the home, social, civic, philanthropic, 
and educational, must be met. Surely, the question 
“ What training shall best fit the woman for her 
tasks new and old"? ” could not be hastily answered. 

Apparently, no one way would be sufficient for 
such numerous and varied demands. Differentiation 
in education—to each her chance to do her best— 
seemed the answer of the hour. 

For one group, those interested in a scientific 
study of the problems of the home, the way out was 
shown most clearly by that powerful agency for the 
education of women—the land-grant college. There, 
for twenty-five yeai*s, the several states had been 
working on the question of differentiation in educa¬ 
tion along the line of the application of science to the 
problems of daily life on the farm and in the shop. 
One can hardly over-estimate the far-reaching results 


108 FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 


of the land-grant colleges in the development of edu¬ 
cation for the common life and the daily task. They 
were a new experiment in education. They expected 
to do the unusual, and that idea was good for conser¬ 
vative women. Men were studying chemistry and 
bacteriology, not because somebody said those studies 
ought to form a part of a liberal education, but be¬ 
cause they expected to use that knowledge later in 
analysis of soil or in work in the dairy. Women were 
thus helped to see that there was a field of applied 
science for women as well as for men. They realized 
later that the laws of heat could be illustrated by the 
kitchen range quite as adequately as by the steam 
engine, that the life history of bacteria could be stud¬ 
ied in many household processes, and that the chem¬ 
istry of food was in many cases better suited to their 
needs than that of stones under the title, “ determina¬ 
tive mineralogy.” Thus there came into being the 
applied science side of home economics. Applied art 
was a later development. 

Catherine Beecher, 1800-1878.—When those in¬ 
terested in finding a place and a way for teaching the 
problems of the home in the college sought guidance, 
they found that direction for that development had 
been sketched out a generation before by an American 
woman, Catherine Beecher, a contemporary of Mrs. 
Willard and Mary Lyon. To be sure, from time im¬ 
memorial the care of the home and children had been 
assigned as woman’s proper sphere, but it remained 
for Catherine Beecher, eldest of the famous Beecher 


STATUS OF WOMEN’S EDUCATION 


109 


family, to indicate just how the training needed in 
this sphere was to be provided. She, like her col¬ 
leagues, was interested in the larger questions of the 
day. She shared with her illustrious brothers—six 
of whom were ministers—in efforts for the better¬ 
ment of the race. She wrote, taught, spoke, always 
with an appreciation of the importance of home and 
family life as a factor in the nation’s welfare. 
She said: 

“ The American nation is demonstrating the principles of 
democracy to the world. * # * The success of a democracy 

depends upon the intellectual and moral character of the people. 
The proper education of a man decides the welfare of an indi¬ 
vidual, but educate a woman and the interests of a whole family- 
are secured.” 4 

Her work as teacher in her school at Hartford, 
Connecticut, and later with her sister, Harriet, at 
Cincinnati, Ohio, showed in her curriculum the 
breadth of her vision in the education of women, and 
she shared with Mary Lyon the idea that schools for 
higher education of women must be endowed and 
organized on a permanent basis like the colleges 
for men. 

Catherine Beecher’s most significant contribu¬ 
tions to the education of women, in the vocabulary of 
the present day, are the importance of the scientific 
basis as the preparation for an intelligent study of 
the home, and economic independence for women. 
Her ideas about the scientific basis are clearly 
brought forth in her book, “ A Treatise on Domestic 


4 B. R. Andrews, Journal of Home Economics, Vol. 4, p. 216. 



110 FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 


Economy. ” This book combines in an unusual degree 
principle and practice. For example, the arguments 
for home economics in education, as set forth in the 
chapter on “ Domestic Economy as a Branch of 
Study,’’ are cogent today. 

11 There is no period in a young lady’s life when she will not 
find such knowledge useful to herself and others. * * * 
Every young lady at the close of her school days, and even before 
they are closed, is liable to be placed in a situation where she will 
need to do herself, or to teach others to do, all the various proc¬ 
esses and duties detailed in this work. * * * As a general 

fact, young ladies will not be taught these things in any other 
way. Mothers will not teach them, for they are not themselves 
qualified to teach a proper and complete system of domestic econ¬ 
omy. The objection that such matters cannot be taught by books 
will not hold, nor granting that such studies may be pursued in 
books, may we be satisfied with the reading of such books rather 
than courses of instruction. * * * Another reason for intro-i 

ducing such a branch of study into female schools is the influ¬ 
ence it would exert in leading young ladies more correctly to 
estimate the importance and dignity of domestic knowledge. It is 
now often the case that young ladies rather pride themselves on 
their ignorance of such subjects; and seem to imagine that it is 
vulgar and ungenteel to know how to work. * * * And let 

the young women of this nation find that domestic economy is 
placed in schools on equal or superior grounds to chemistry, phil¬ 
osophy, and mathematics, and they will blush to be found igno¬ 
rant of its first principles, as much as they will to hesitate 
respecting the laws of gravity or the composition of the atmos¬ 
phere. But, as matters are now conducted, many young ladies 
know how to make oxygen and hydrogen and to discuss questions 
of philosophy or political economy far better than they know how 
to make a bed and sweep a room properly; and they can con¬ 
struct a diagram in geometry with far more skill than they can 
make the simplest article of feminine dress. ’ ’ 5 

6 Journal of Home Economics, Vol. 4, p. 217. 



STATUS OP WOMEN’S EDUCATION 


111 


Miss Beecher’s work for the economic independence 
of women culminated in the formation in 1852 of 
what appears to be the first organization of women 
for the improvement of education. The purposes of 
this association were explained by Miss Beecher in 
1855 in the “ Letters to the People on Health and 
Happiness.” The name of this organization was the 
'American Woman’s Educational Association. Its 
object, as stated in its constitution, was: 

“to aid in securing to American women a liberal education, hon¬ 
orable position, and remunerative employment in their appro¬ 
priate profession, the distinctive profession of women being 
considered as embracing the training of the human mind, the 
care of the human body in infancy and sickness, and the conser¬ 
vation of the family state. 

“The leading measure to be pursued by the association is the 
establishment of permanent endowed institutions for women; 
the ‘endowments’ being employed ‘to furnish the salaries of 
three superior teachers in each institution, who shall take charge 
of the three departments set forth as constituting the profession 
of woman. ’ The mode in which this effort has been carried out 
has been to seek the cooperation of a large town or city in found¬ 
ing such an institution by the offer, on the part of the association, 
of a library and apparatus, and a permanent endowment of 
$20,000 for the above purpose, on condition that the citizens erect 
a suitable building, and insure the income from tuition fees that 
will support four teachers for the literary departments. 

‘ ‘ This offer was made to the citizen^ of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 
and of Dubuque, Iowa. The result has been the erection, in each 
of these cities, of a large and beautiful edifice for such an insti¬ 
tution. In Milwaukee about two hundred pupils, and in 
Dubuque nearly one hundred, are in course of study in the 
institutions thus established. 

“ It is now the object of the association to organize the three 
departments in these institutions which are to be sustained by 


1U FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 

endowment, and which aim to qualify woman for her distinctive 
duties. These are, first, the normal department, where the pupils 
are to be trained to act as educators; next, the health department, 
where they are to be trained to be perfectly healthy themselves, 
and to undertake all that appertains to the care of infancy and 
of family health; and, lastly, the domestic department, where- 
they are to be trained to understand and to perform all the proc¬ 
esses of domestic economy . 9 ’ 6 

While the quotations given emphasize the points 
of special interest to present-day home-economics 
workers, if space permitted, attention in detail would 
be given to Miss Beecher’s essay, written in 1835, “On 
the Education of Female Teachers,” in which she sets 
forth with unusual clearness the attitude of mind 
with which an intelligent woman should consider her 
training for the varied duties of the home; also to the 
“ American Woman’s Home or Principles of Domes¬ 
tic Science,” published in 1870, “ a guide to the for¬ 
mation and maintenance of economical, healthful, 
beautiful Christian homes. ’ ’ The latter is really a re¬ 
vised and enriched statement of her earlier views. It 
contains plans for what is a very modern develop¬ 
ment—the practice house in connection with the pro¬ 
posed technical college for women which the Woman’s 
Educational Association had attempted to form. 

Dr. B. E. Andrews says of Miss Beecher: 

‘ * Her life-work as educator, author of text-books, and leader 
in social movements for women as teachers, for the higher edu¬ 
cation for women, for moderation in the anti-slavery crusade, for 
hygienic and health reforms, for attention to domestic economy, 


c Ibid., p. 219. 



STATUS OF WOMEN’S EDUCATION 113 

and finally against the suffrage for woman—made her a national 
figure from 1830 until her death, in 1878. ” 7 8 

Other Contributions to the Science of the House¬ 
hold.—The chemists, biologists, economists, and other 
scientific workers have contributed to our present 
science of the home. Here two names especially may 
be mentioned, Rumford and Youmans. 

Count Rumford, 1753-1814.—An American, born 
in Woburn, Mass., known in Europe as Count Rum- 
ford, was one of the world’s great physicists. He was 
the first of the great scientists to give his influence 
and active support to domestic problems and thereby 
greatly aided the scientific study of them. His 
work in the problems of food and nutrition, of heat 
and economy of fuels, of lighting and heating houses, 
of institution administration, constitute very impor¬ 
tant contributions. Count Rumford’s “ Essays” will 
repay careful study today; his work was a stimulus to 
Dr. Youmans and to Ellen Richards, who seventy- 
five and a hundred years later, respectively, carried 
forward and brought to a full realization the move¬ 
ment for a specialized education for the home. 

Edward L. Youmans, 1821-1887.—A chemist, and 
later founder of the “ Popular Science Monthly,” did 
a real service to> home economics by his book on 
Household Science (1857), in which he presented 
a scientific study of food, air, heat, and light from the 
standpoint of the home worker. It is difficult to find 

7 U. 8. Bureau of Education 1914, No. 36. Education for the Hdme , 
Part I, p. 11. 

8 



114 FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 


at the present time a clearer or more comprehensive 
statement of the meaning and content of the term 
“household science,” than the one given in the 
preface of his book: “Household science has to do 
with the agents, the materials and the phenomena of 
the household.” Dr. Youmans was also an untiring 
advocate of specialized education in home economics. 

Summary.—In the preceding pages, attention has 
been given to some of the factors in the development 
of education for women. Marvelous progress in edu¬ 
cation was made in the last twenty-five years of the 
nineteenth century, so that by the end of it almost 
every type of modern education was open to woman. 
Even the three learned professions had welcomed her 
to their ranks while a whole host of new forms of 
activity, born out of the new social and political con¬ 
ditions, called for the services of the educated woman. 

The public conscience was aroused to the value of 
women’s participation in social and civic activities 
as well as in the time-honored service in the home. 
The Bureau of Occupations for Women—itself a 
product of the new spirit—listed some 300 occupa¬ 
tions for women. 

The story of woman’s achievements in the first 
quarter of the twentieth century would be a fascinat¬ 
ing one. The purpose of this textbook, however, 
requires that our further study be limited to one 
phase of this development, namely, the advancement 
in education for the home, particularly as to the 


STATUS OF WOMEN’S EDUCATION 


115 


development of home economics in the colleges 
and universities. 

PART II 

THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 

Texts 

Barnes, Earl. Women in Modern Society. 

Boone, R. L. Education in the United States. 

Briggs, Dean LeBaron. Girls and Education. 

Dexter, E. G. History of Education in the United States. 

Goodsell, Willystine. The Education of Women. 

Hollister, H. A. The Woman Citizen. 

Small, W. H. Early New England Schools. 

Talbot, Marion. Education of Women. 

Thwing, C. F. The Family. History of Higher Education in America. 

Selected References 

Barnard’s Journal of Education, Vol. 2, Female Education in Catho¬ 
lic Schools. 

Vol. 6, Emma Willard. 

Vol. 10, Mary Lyon. 

Vol. 11, Vassar College. 

Vol. 13, Fdnelon. 

Vol. 16, Review of Female Educa¬ 
tion for Fifty Years. 

Vol. 17, Fairchild on Co-education. 
Vol. 23, Female Education. 

Brown, E. E. Science, August, 1907. Are We an Inventive People in 
the Field of Education? 

Cyclopedia of Education, Monroe, Colonial Schools, Higher Education 
of Women, Academies. 

Educational Review, Vol. 7, p. 466, Woman’s Education in the South. 

Vol. 8, p. 287, Higher Education of Women in 
the South. 

Vol. 30, p. 73, Higher Education of Women. 

Vol. 32, p. 405, Higher Education of Women. 
Forum, Vol. 7, p. 41. Advanced Education for Women. 

Journal of Home Economics, April, 1910, Emma H. Willard. 

National Education Association Report, 1902, p. 100. The Home and 
Higher Education. Carrie Chapman Catt. 

—1906, Brown, Fifty Years of 
American Education. 

—1908, p. 93, Dean Arnold, 
Cross Purposes in Educa¬ 
tion. 

Outlook, The, Vol. 82, Mary Lyon, Mt. Holyoke College. 


116 FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 


Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Education: 

1891-92, pp. 783 ff. Co-education of the Sexes in the United States. 
1901, Vol. 2, p. 1230. Co-education of the Sexes in the United 
States. 

1901, Vol. 2, p. 1285. Symposium on Co-education of the Sexes: 
Jordan. Harper, Thwing, and Miinsterburg. 

1902, Vol. 1, p. 661. Women on College Faculties: Harper. 
Russell, James E. Trend in American Education, Educational Review, 

Vol. 32, p. 28. Also Co-education in the High School, Good House¬ 
keeping, Vol. 57, p. 490. 

Sachs, Julius. Co-education in the United States, Educational Review, 
Vol. 35, p. 466. 

—Intellectual Reactions of Co-education, Educational Review, Vol. 
33, p. 298 ff. 

Scribner’s Magazine, August, 1922, The Gallant Lady, Caroline 
E. MacGill. 

Small, W. H. Girls in Colonial Schools, Education, Vol. 22, p. 532. 
Taylor, J. M. College Education for Girls in America before 1865, 
Educational Review, Vol. 44, pp. 217, 325. 

Thomas, M. Carey. Shall the Higher Education of Women Differ 
From That of Men? Educational Review, Vol. 21, p. 1 ff. 

Thwing, C. F. Should Woman’s Education Differ From Man’s ? Forum, 
30, pp. 728 ff. 

Tufts, J. H. American College Education and Life, Science, March 
12, 1909. 


PART III 

THE DEVELOPMENT OP HOME ECONOMICS 



CHAPTER X 


THE BEGINNINGS OF HOME ECONOMICS 
IN THE WEST 

Reference has already been made to the number 
and variety of educational agencies which had their 
beginnings about 1870. Technical schools, land-grant 
colleges, women’s colleges, and denominational 
schools all testified to the new spirit in education. A 
very important factor in the new education was intro¬ 
duced by the Massachusetts legislature, which passed 
an act in 1870 making drawing obligatory in the pub¬ 
lic schools of the state. 1 This was the beginning of its 
introduction throughout the country, and constitutes, 
in the mind of some, the real basis for industrial 
training. Schools of art and design, industrial 
classes, cooking and sewing classes followed in rapid 
succession in the East, while in the West, depart¬ 
ments of domestic economy were introduced into the 
agricultural colleges. The changes in the industrial 
and social life of the nineteenth century had greatly 
enlarged the sphere of women’s activities and respon¬ 
sibilities; many questions were raised concerning 
their education and training and again new methods 
of education were demanded. As a result of these 
demands came the opening of the departments of 
household science in the land-grant colleges. 

*■Report of the TJ. S. Commissioner of Education, 1873, p. 170. 

119 



120 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 


Department of Home Economics in Land-Grant 
Colleges.—Three state institutions are pioneers in 
the work in the West, viz v Iowa, Kansas, and Illinois. 
Some confusion exists regarding the dates at which 
work was begun in these institutions. An attempt has 
been made, in so far as possible, to let those who did 
the first work tell the story of its beginnings. 

Iowa.—Iowa seems to have been the first to enter 
this field. A personal letter from Miss Georgetta 
Witter, Professor of Domestic Economy in Iowa 
State College in 1905, gives the following informa¬ 
tion : 

“Iowa State College was opened on March 17, 1869. The 
real beginning of domestic science in the institution dates back 
to that time, when the matron, in connection with her work as 
steward of the boarding department, adopted the so-called Mount 
Holyoke plan, requiring each young woman to work for two hours 
per day, under careful supervision, in the dining room, kitchen, 
or pantry. 

“In 1875 Mrs. Mary B. Welsh induced the trustees to open a 
department of cookery and household arts. ,, 

Mrs. Welsh makes the following statement in “ A 
Special Report on Industrial Education in the United 
States, 1883”: 

“The first instruction in this department was given in 1372 
by a course of lectures to the junior girls on matters connected 
with housekeeping. In 1877 the trustees added a course in cook¬ 
ing, and provided and furnished a kitchen for the use of the class. 
For the last four years, therefore, lessons in cooking have been 
given to the junior class, in connection with lectures on such 
(subjects as house furnishing, care of the sick, care of children, 
management of help, dress, etc. Physiology and domestic chem- 


HOME ECONOMICS IN THE WEST 


121 


istry are now being carefully taught as a part of the course in 
institutions thus established. 

“In 1879 the course was further extended by the addition of 
sewing and laundry work. These have been taught with fair 
success for two years. Many of our students, however, have 
been able to pass them by examination, and it was found diffi¬ 
cult to arouse the same degree of interest in either as in cooking. 
There has been a steadily increasing demand for instruction in 
the latter, and the course has been reorganized for this year so as 
to give the cooking lessons to a larger number of students. These 
lessons were formerly confined to the juniors, on account, partly, 
of want of room in the small kitchen provided by the board, and 
partly on account of lack of drill in chemistry in the preceding 
years. At the last session of the legislature larger rooms were 
assigned to the department, and the present plan arranges for 
progressive lessons to the freshman, sophomore, and junior classes. 

“The young women of the freshman class prepare, under my 
instruction, the noonday meal for one table in the main dining 
hall, where two hundred students are boarded. The housekeeper 
furnishes the bill of fare for the day, and sends to the practice 
kitchen sufficient material for a dinner for ten persons, which is 
cooked and served by the teacher and her class. Not more than 
five work at once, and thus each receives careful supervision and 
can get actual practice at every lesson. In this way the class is 
taught plain cooking—how to prepare meats, vegetables, and 
simple desserts. The dinner cooked at the last lesson is a fair 
sample of the daily work. It consisted of roast beef, mashed po¬ 
tatoes, stewed tomatoes, and apple dumplings. While the work 
was going on the teacher explained not only the culinary proc¬ 
esses, but told the class also something about the value of beef 
as a food, the best cuts, how to tell good beef from poor, the marks 
of disease, something also about the history and food value of 
the potato and apple, the tests for good flour, and the composi¬ 
tion and action of baking powder. 

“In order to get time for this minute instruction to so large 
a number, the laundry work and sewing were necessarily abol¬ 
ished, and the sophomores are given the lectures, which have been 
extended to embrace not only those matters which relate strictly 


o 


122 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 


to housekeeping', but more comprehensive information on hygiene, 
the laws of good breeding, and those things which go to make a 
home beautiful as well as clean and convenient. The class is 
required to take notes, and in connection with the lectures do a 
good deal of careful reading and write several essays each on the 
topics treated of. 

“Finally, to the juniors is given a more elaborate course in 
cooking. Great pains are taken in that year to explain as care¬ 
fully as may be the nutritive value of different foods, tests for 
adulterations, the combination of the several classes of food in 
bills of fare so as to be most valuable, etc. Together with the 
theory is given thorough practice in both plain and ornamental 
cookery. Bread and soups are made the subjects of special drill, 
while salads, side dishes, pastry and cake, carving, boning, and 
garnishing are also most thoroughly taught. A few lessons are 
given in the preparation of food for the sick, and these are dwelt 
on with special emphasis. 

“The interest of the students in the department of domestic 
economy has been constant and lively, while the board of trustees, 
the college faculty, and the patrons of the school have united in 
encouraging its development. It is acknowledged to have met a 
long-existing want, and to have done real service for the young 
women of the state. It has not only given them manual skill, 
but it has also increased their respect for all branches of such 
labor, and added dignity to that part of their life work hitherto 
considered as menial drudgery. The promise for the future is 
most encouraging. Stimulated by the enthusiasm of her pupils, 
strengthened by the good will of her fellow-teachers, and aided 
by the generous appreciation and liberal policy of the board of 
trustees, the teacher of domestic economy looks forward with sure 
faith to the fullest development of her department.” 2 

Kansas. —The Kansas State Agricultural College 
comes next in order of time. Mrs. Nellie Kedzie 
Jones, for many years the inspiring head of the 
Home Economics Department in that institution, 

3 United States Bureau of Education, 1883, p. 278. 



HOME ECONOMICS IN THE WEST 


ns 

gives the following data concerning the beginnings 
of the work there: 

“In 1873-74 sewing was first taught in Kansas Agricultural 
College by Mrs. Cheseldine. In 1875-76 a course of lectures was 
given by Professor W. K. Kedzie (chemist) on such subjects as 
bread, its composition, changes in baking; meat, changes in cook¬ 
ing ; vegetables, composition and food value, etc.; also a course 
of lectures by E. M. Sheldon, Professor of Agriculture, on milk, 
butter, cheese, etc.; Mrs. Cripps, who was in charge of sewing, 
gave lectures and lessons in cooking food, and a kitchen was fitted 
up in 1877.” 

This plan continued until 1882, when Mrs. Nellie 
Kedzie took charge of the department and did much 
towards its fuller development. 

Illinois.—As stated before, women were admitted 
to the Illinois Industrial University in 1870. Steps 
seem to have been taken at once to introduce lines of 
work of particular interest to them. The catalogue of 
1871-72 announces a School of Domestic Science and 
Art, and adds: 

“ Instruction in this school will be begun with the next col¬ 
lege year and will be developed as fast as practicable.” 

The catalogue for the following year repeats this 
announcement, and adds: 

‘ ‘ Drawing is taught by a skilled instructor, music can be had 
as an ‘ extra, ’ and painting will be provided for. The full course 
will very nearly correspond with the course in English and the 
modern languages. Young ladies have free access to all the 
schools in the university, and several are already pursuing studies 
in the schools of chemistry, horticulture, architecture, and com¬ 
merce. ’ ’ 


124 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 


The report of the meeting of the Board of Trus¬ 
tees, March 11, 1874, contains the following recom¬ 
mendation by Dr. J. M. Gregory, Regent of the 
University: 

“I also recommend the employment of a lady instructor of 
the highest attainments and of large experience, who may in 
some sense stand as a preceptress to the female students. The 
number of these students has steadily increased till over eighty 
appear on our roll. They are from all parts of the state, and are 
admitted to all the classes of the university. But their best inter¬ 
ests demand that there shall be in the faculty a woman of high 
character and culture, who shall be specially charged with their 
oversight. If a lady can be found who can properly open and 
direct the studies in the School of Domestic Economy, her em¬ 
ployment will be of double use and value. 

“In this connection I wish to repeat the recommendation that 
at the earliest day practicable you provide fully for a School of 
Domestic Economy and such other schools as the wants of our 
female students demand. ’ ’ * 3 

In accordance with this recommendation the min¬ 
utes of the meeting of June 10, 1874, contain the fol¬ 
lowing statement: 

“ It was resolved that Miss Lou C. Allen be appointed an 
instructor in the university for the year beginning September 1, 
1874.” 4 

The following data supplied by Mrs. J. C. Llewel¬ 
lyn, a student of those days, is of interest: 

“ Dr. John M. Gregory, the first President of the University 
of Illinois, was instrumental in having girls admitted to the uni¬ 
versity. The first girls entered about two years after the opening 

8 Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees, Illinois Industrial 

University, March 11, 1874, p. 92. 

4 Ihid. } June 10, 1874, p. 117. 



HOME ECONOMICS IN THE WEST 


125 


of the university. As soon as co-education was established, Dr. 
Gregory began to make known his thoughts for special instruc¬ 
tion for girls. These ideas along the line of domestic or household 
science, as subsequent events have proved, were far in advance 
of his time. 

“Dr. Gregory was so convincing in his arguments that the 
state should show the same wisdom in providing a special course 
of study for the future housekeepers as it had in teaching the 
business principles which would allow the establishment of the 
home itself, that the trustees decided to arrange for the 
special work. 

‘ ‘ One of the first things to do was to find a woman who would 
undertake this work. At the suggestion of one of the trustees, 
Miss Lou C. Allen, preceptress of the Peoria County Normal 
School, was appealed to. After a conference with some of the 
university people, Miss Allen decided to prepare for and under¬ 
take the work. Accordingly she spent some time in the East 
looking up the matter and in taking instruction along 
certain lines. 

“She appeared at the university in 1874 at the opening to the 
students of the main building, or University Hall, as it is now 
called. From the start she virtually held the position that is now 
held by the dean of women, and also taught the household sci¬ 
ence classes as fast as they were established. She had charge of 
and taught all the first gymnastic classes for girls. 

“Her work as a teacher was very thorough, and showed her 
training in the State Normal School at Bloomington, where she 
graduated. Her first title at the university was 4 Instructor in 
Domestic Science. ’ Later she was made ‘ Professor of Domestic 
Science.’ In 1892, long after she had left, the university con¬ 
ferred on her the degree of Master of Science. 

11 When Dr. Gregory gave up his work as President of the uni¬ 
versity, 1880, the position of Professor of Domestic Science was 
also made vacant because Miss Allen had become Mrs. Gregory. 
A new professor for the department was not secured until 1900, 
possibly because there was no one at hand who was so untiring in 
his efforts for and so farseeing in the need of such a course as 
Dr. Gregory had been.” 


126 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 


The following statement by Mrs. Gregory tells 
something of her hopes, plans, and difficulties in or¬ 
ganizing such a department: 

“This school was formally opened in Urbana, 1874, being the 
first college course of high grade in domestic science organized in 
the United States, if not in the world. With no precedent to 
guide, few or no textbooks on the subject to furnish material aid, 
with an incredulous public opinion to contend against, and oppo¬ 
sition in most unexpected quarters to meet, the undertaking at 
the outset seemed formidable enough. But the six years that 
have intervened have sufficed to overcome many obstacles and 
demonstrate the practical value of the work. 

“The school was the outgrowth of a conviction that a rational 
system for the higher and better education of women must recog¬ 
nize their distinctive duties as women—the mothers, housekeep¬ 
ers, and health keepers of the world—and furnish instruction 
which shall fit them to meet these duties. 

“As set forth in the catalogue, it was the aim of the school to 
give to earnest and capable young women a liberal and practical 
education, which should fit them for their great duties and trusts, 
making them the equals of their educated husbands and associ¬ 
ates, and enabling them to bring the aids of science and culture 
to the all-important labors and vocations of womanhood. 

“This school proceeded upon the assumption that the house¬ 
keeper needs education as much as the house builder, the nurse 
as well as the physician, the leaders of society as surely as the 
leaders of senates, the mother as much as the father, the 
woman as well as the man. We discarded the old and absurd 
notion that education is a necessity* to man, but only an ornament 
to woman. If ignorance is a weakness and a disaster in the 
places of business where the income is won, it is equally so in the 
places of living where the income is expended. If science can 
aid agriculture and the mechanic arts to use more successfully 
nature’s forces and to increase the amount and value of their 
products it can equally aid the housekeeper in the finer and more 
complicated use of those forces and agencies in the home, where 
winter is to be changed into genial summer by artificial fires, and 


HOME ECONOMICS IN THE WEST 


127 


darkness into day by costly illumination; where the raw products 
of the field are to be transformed into sweet and wholesome food 
by a chemistry finer than that of soils, and the products of a hun¬ 
dred manufactories are to be put to their final uses for the health 
and happiness of life. 

The purpose was to provide a full course of instruction in 
the arts of the household and the sciences relating thereto. No 
industry is more important to human happiness and well-being 
than that which makes the home. And this industry involves 
principles of science as many and as profound as those which 
control any other human employment. 

“In the fall of 1874 the writer of this article was called to 
take charge of this school, which then existed only in name. Dur¬ 
ing the first year she gave much time to mapping out and pre¬ 
paring a course of study, which was presented for the first time 
in the catalogue of 1875-76, substantially as follows: 5 

COURSES OF DOMESTIC SCIENCE AS GIVEN IN CATALOGUE OF 
INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS FOR 1875-1876 

Course of Domestic Science required for degree of B. S. in school of 
domestic science. 

First Year 

1. Chemistry; trigonometry; drawing (full term) ; British authors. 

2. Chemistry; designing and drawing; American authors. 

3. Chemistry; designing and drawing; rhetoric. 

Second Year 

1. Botany; physiology; German or English classics. 

2. Food and dietetics (simple aliments); botany and greenhouse; German 

or English classics. 

3. Food and dietetics (compound aliments and principles of cooking, etc.); 

zoology; German or English classics. 

Third Year 

1. Domestic hygiene; ancient history; German or French. 

2. Physics; mediaeval history; German or French. 

3. Physics or landscape gardening; modern history; German or French. 

Fourth Year 

1. Household aesthetics; mental science; history of civilization. 

2. Household science; constitutional history; logic. 

3. Domestic economy; usages of society, etc.; political economy; home 

architecture; graduating thesis or oration or essay. 

6 Special Report of U. S. Bureau of Education , 1883, p. 279. 



128 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 


A glance at the course of study outlined by Miss 
Allen shows that her conception of the scope of house¬ 
hold science was far in advance of her time. One 
regrets deeply that the work so well inaugurated 
should not have been continued without interruption. 

It is difficult to give accurate statistics concerning 
the beginning of these departments in all the land- 
grant colleges. From various sources data have been 
collected which show that departments existed in 
1890 in Kansas, Iowa, Oregon and South Dakota. 
By 1895 the number of such departments had in¬ 
creased to ten. At the close of 1900 the list included 
the names of thirty departments. By 1905 the list 
had increased to thirty-six. This means that practi¬ 
cally every one of the land-grant colleges in the 
North and West had such departments. The pro¬ 
ceedings of the Association of Land-Grant Colleges 
for 1922 includes a list of forty-one such colleges with 
departments of home economics. 

Public Interest.—How widespread and universal 
was the interest in the work may perhaps be indicated 
in part by the attention given to it by the Secretary 
of Agriculture in his report of June 30, 1897, in 
which he says: 

4 4 Among the educational movements which in recent years 
have engaged the attention of the public none has been received 
with greater favor than the attempt to introduce into schools for 
girls and women some systematic teaching of the arts which are 
practiced in the home. Many of the colleges of agriculture and 
mechanic arts, together with scientific, technical, and industrial 
schools, now maintain a department of domestic science. Cook- 


HOME ECONOMICS IN THE WEST 


129 


ing and sewing are quite commonly taught in the public schools, 
and cooking schools for women have been organized in numerous 
places. While useful instruction in these lines is imparted, it is 
generally recognized that much remains to be done before the 
teaching of domestic science can assume its most effective form. 

* ‘ In this, as in other branches of instruction which have a vital 
relation to the arts and industries, the student should learn not 
only the best methods of doing the things required by the daily 
needs of home life, but also the reasons why certain things are to 
be done and others avoided. In other words, this teaching needs 
a scientific basis if it is to be thoroughly useful. In this respect 
domestic science is in the same category with medicine, engi¬ 
neering, and agriculture. It is not so very long ago that medi¬ 
cine and engineering were very largely empirical arts, and the 
schools of medicine and engineering were principally engaged in 
teaching men the things they were to do when they became doctors 
or engineers. Today no doctor or engineer is considered fitted to 
pursue his profession until he has drunk deep at the fountains 
of science and knows well the principles on which successful prac¬ 
tice must be based. In agriculture it is coming to be clearly seen 
that teaching the boy how to plow or to perform any other farm 
operation is not the most important service which the school can 
render. There must be added to this definite and careful instruc¬ 
tion in the principles on which agricultural practice is based. The 
farmer must be taught to think in the lines where science has 
shed light upon his art if his practice is to be most thoroughly 
successful. Fortunately science has already much to tell the 
farmer which is most useful to him, and every year sees an 
increase in the great store from which the agricultural student 
can safely draw. 

“Now, what has been done for the boy in agriculture and en¬ 
gineering needs to be done for the girl in domestic art and sci¬ 
ence. And already the beginnings of a far-reaching effort in 
this direction have been made. The teachers of domestic science 
are not content to follow a dull routine of household drudgery in 
their teaching. They are appealing to the scientist and special¬ 
ist in lines which touch the home life to explain the principles 
on which home practices should rest, and to show them how in- 

9 


130 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 


telligent taste and skill can make the home a pleasant place to 
live in, and how scientific knowledge can enable the homekeeper 
to maintain the health and generally promote the physical well* 
being of those committed to her charge. Some progress has been 
made in formulating the replies which science is now able to give 
to inquiries relating to domestic science and in undertaking in¬ 
vestigations with a view to greatly broadening our knowledge of 
these matters in the days to come. 

“In the great work of helping the women of our land, nearly 
half of whom are toiling in the homes upon our farms, this de¬ 
partment, it is believed, has a large duty to perform. For what¬ 
ever will be effective in raising the grade of the home life on the 
farm, in securing the better nourishment of the farmer’s family, 
and in surrounding them with the refinements and attractions 
of a well-ordered home, will powerfully contribute alike to the 
material prosperity of the country and the general welfare of 
the farmers.-* The investigations which the department has un¬ 
dertaken on the food and nutrition of man have already been of 
much service to the teachers and students of domestic science, 
and it is hoped that these investigations will hereafter be still 
more helpful in establishing a scientific basis for the teaching and 
practice of human nutrition. Through its close relations with 
the agricultural colleges and other institutions for industrial 
training of the youth, the department may incidentally aid the 
movement to educate women in the rational practice of the arts of 
the home.” 6 

It is easy to see from this report that the need of a 
scientific basis for instruction related to the home 
had, twenty-five years ago, come fully to be appre¬ 
ciated. A still further evidence of government inter¬ 
est and influence in behalf of the work comes from the 
1905 report of Director A. C. True, of the Office of 
Experiment Stations, United States Department of 
Agriculture: 


e Yearbook, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 1897, p. 17. 



HOME ECONOMICS IN THE WEST 


131 


/‘It is very important that the Department, interested as it 
is in agricultural education, should make a closer study of the 
courses of instruction in home economics or domestic science as 
taught in schools and colleges, especially the colleges of agricul¬ 
ture and mechanic arts throughout the country with a view to 
aiding teachers in their work to a greater degree than at present. 
Satisfactory textbooks on food and nutrition (important 
branches of home economics) are not available, and at present, a 
large proportion of the teachers depend on Department publica¬ 
tions to supply their place. There is a demand for more nutri¬ 
tion publications, both technical and popular, like those now 
issued, and also for a new series on somewhat different lines. Thus 
simple leaflets are needed for instruction in primary grades, and 
charts showing in graphic form results of nutrition investigations 
are very often requested, as well as directions for preparing 
specimens and other material illustrating the composition of 
food in a concrete way, as was done by the office at the St. Louis 
Exposition. It is also very important to gather and place in 
pedagogical form the widely scattered facts relating to food 
principles which underlie cookery, proper food combinations, 
body requirements, digestibility and hygiene of food and living, 
and related questions. In the teaching of animal production, 
agronomy, and other agricultural topics, pedagogical work 
similar to that proposed has resulted in the formulation of very 
satisfactory courses of instruction. ’ ’ 7 

The Land-Grant Colleges and Home Economics.— 

It will thus be seen that while many agencies have 
contributed to the development of home economics, 
no agency has been more effective than the land-grant 
colleges. No other agency has appreciated the possi¬ 
bilities of the subject so clearly or laid for it such 
broad and deep foundations. As these colleges were 
among the first to recognize the need for a scientific 
basis to education for the home, they have been most 

7 Annual Reports of the Department of Agriculture, 1905, p. 478. 



132 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 

insistent that this standard should be maintained, and 
the home economics departments have realized the 
necessity of maintaining college ideals ir the work if 
they would have the respect of the college community. 

Agriculture and home economics have had much 
in common in their development. Both are among 
the newer subjects of the college curricula, so they 
have had to bear the questioning that is certain to be 
bestowed upon any new idea, the indifference of 
those who feel that “ the old way is the best way,” 
the scorn of the student of the classics for “ bread- 
and-butter education.” 

Yet in spite of these obstacles both agriculture 
and home economics have steadily made perceptible 
progress toward better educational standards. Both 
have dealt at first hand with the primal necessities of 
human beings. This practical age recognizes the ne¬ 
cessity of sound material and physical media for the 
expression of economic and aesthetic ideas, and so is 
willing to give part of its best energies to the consid¬ 
eration of this earth upon which we tread, the air 
we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, the 
houses we live in, and the clothes we wear. The old 
idea that anybody can farm and that anybody can 
cook has well-nigh disappeared, and with it the idea 
that farming means plowing only and that the activi¬ 
ties of the home are fully represented by the making 
of hot biscuits. 

It has been well for both agriculture and home 
economics that their origin and their materials have 


HOME ECONOMICS IN THE WEST 


133 


kept them closely in touch with the people. The spirit 
which animated the founding of the land-grant col¬ 
leges had for its objective the development of the in¬ 
dividual so that he might give better service to the 
nation. As a result, the final outcome of either line of 
work has always meant better homes and better citi¬ 
zens. One great factor in the development of both 
subjects has been the generous support afforded and 
the consequent freedom to try experiments that re¬ 
quired time and money that few private enterprises 
could command. 8 


8 Bevier, Home Economics Movement, pp. 41-42. 




CHAPTEK XI 

THE BEGINNING OF HOME ECONOMICS 
IN THE EAST 

Cooking Schools. —The desire for a study of 
household problems was not confined to the land- 
grant colleges. As early as I860, Professor Pierre 
Blot gave lessons in cooking in several large eastern 
cities. Owing to the prejudice against co-education 
in the East, the agencies for the study had to be dif¬ 
ferent. Chief among these agencies were the cooking 
schools, which had no small part in arousing public 
interest in the study of the home. 

They demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt 
the desirability and possibility of having good food, 
well served, at small expense, and so ministered to a 
universal need. It was their privilege to touch at 
first hand the homes of all classes and conditions of 
people, and so to create a demand for instruction in 
the arts of the home in the public school. The records 
show that again and again cooking has been intro¬ 
duced into the public schools only after some public- 
spirited citizen had demonstrated its benefits in a 
private school. It has seemed desirable in this connec¬ 
tion to give something of the beginnings of cooking 
schools in the United States by brief statements con¬ 
cerning some of the earlier ones. The early work in 
New York, Boston and Philadelphia is given because 

134 


HOME ECONOMICS IN THE EAST 135 

the work in these three cities seems to be typical of 
the movement throughout the country. 

New York Cooking School. 1 —The New York 
Cooking School in New York City claims to be the 
starting point in the movement for improving cook¬ 
ery in this country. It had its beginning in 1874 in 
connection with the Free Training School for 
Women, with Miss Juliet Cordon as Superintendent 
of this department. The first year 200 persons 
attended the classes. 

In 1875 Miss Corson organized the Ladies’ Cook¬ 
ing Class and in November, 1876, she opened the New 
York Cooking School in her home in St. Mark’s 
Place. The plain cook’s class of the New York Cook¬ 
ing School was started in 1878. It had for its object 
“the instruction in the principles of plain family 
cooking for young housekeepers in moderate circum¬ 
stances, young women employed as domestics, and 
the wives and daughters of workingmen.” These 
lessons proved so popular that Miss Corson thor¬ 
oughly studied this part of the problem, and as a 
result published and distributed 50,000 copies of the 
pamphlet called “ Fifteen-cent Dinners for Work¬ 
men ’s Families. ’ ’ She gave public lessons to working 
people, and found the result so satisfactory that she 
established cooking classes for workingmen’s chil¬ 
dren as a part of the regular work of the school. The 
interest and enthusiasm manifested by the public in 


1 Circular of Information of the Bureau of Education, No. 4, 1879, p. 17, 



136 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 


the work of the school were shown by the fact that 
from January to April, 1879, Miss Corson had taught 
6,560 persons in public and private lectures and les¬ 
sons. Miss Corson believed in graded schools of cook¬ 
ery, which should include the following branches 
of instruction: 

“ (1) A class of schools for the training of children of work¬ 
ing people in that kind of cookery most suitable for use in their 
own homes, the instruction to be varied in accordance with local 
requirements. 

“(2) A class of schools for the instruction of plain cooks 
in the principles of moderately expensive cookery adapted to the 
needs of families in comfortable circumstances; also the appro¬ 
priate and economical combination of the remains of food which 
has already appeared on the table into appetizing dishes. This 
course includes some instruction bearing on the choice of food 
for its economic and sanitary value. 

“ (3) A class of schools for high-class cookery, in which 
suitable persons, both male and female, may receive instruction 
in the more difficult branches of the culinary art, so as to be fitted 
to fill the positions of head cooks in large private establishments, 
clubs, and hotels. A department can be devoted to alimentary 
experiments with new food products in direct relation to their 
nutritive and economic value. 

“ (4) Normal schools of cookery, where ladies can be taught 
the theory and practice of domestic economy, both in reference to 
its practice in their own homes and in training others in this 
accomplishment. Proficient housekeepers and ladies who have 
already assumed the direction of their own households can attend 
this department with advantage, with the following objects in 
view: the use of different articles of food in relation to varying 
physical needs; the alteration and improvement of the dietaries 
of individuals following certain pursuits, in accordance with 
their special requirements; and the detection of the adulteration 
or deterioration of different foods . 7 7 2 


s lUd., p. 22. 



HOME ECONOMICS IN THE EAST 


137 


Miss S. Maria Parloa, 1843-I909. 3 —Miss Parloa’s 
first public lecture on cooking was given in New Lon¬ 
don, Connecticut, in 1876. Her first lectures in Bos¬ 
ton were given in Tremont Temple, beginning May 
23,1877. In October, Miss Parloa opened her school 
on Tremont street, Boston. In the spring of 1878, 
she gave lectures to the pupils of Miss Morgan’s 
school at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and at Lasell 
Seminary, Auburndale, Massachusetts. In the sum¬ 
mer of 1878 she went to Europe and visited schools in 
England and France. In 1879, she gave lectures in 
the Boston Cooking School started by the Woman’s 
Education Association at Boston. In August, 1879, 
a school was conducted by Miss Parloa in connection 
with the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle 
and National Sunday School Assembly, held at Chau¬ 
tauqua, New York. Miss Parloa in a personal letter 
gives an account of the beginning of her work 
as follows: 

‘ * The beginning of my work was accidental and I did not have 
the commercial side in view. I was teaching in a little country 
school in Florida, and interested in all the people there. There 
seemed to be need of bringing all the people, children and 
parents together at least once a Week, and we tried to do it in 
the Sunday school in the sparsely settled part of the town. We 
felt the need of some sort of a musical instrument, and I tried to 
raise the money by asking various friends and acquaintances' for 
it, and got quite a little that w*ay; finally I gave a talk on cook¬ 
ery, prepared a paper carefully describing the processes of diges¬ 
tion, etc., and then with a little gas stove illustrated some things. 
The talk was given in the vestry of a church, and with what I 

3 Journal of Home Economies , Vol. 1, p. 378. 




138 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 


had already collected and the money received from this lecture 
I had nearly enough money to buy a small cabinet organ. Two 
of my friends gave the amount lacking, which was $10, and we 
bought the organ for the little Sunday school. After this lec¬ 
ture, so many of my friends urged me to do this thing that I 
thought seriously of it, and the next spring, at the end of the 
ischool year, when all teachers were asked to make their applica¬ 
tions for the next year, I asked the school board to hold the 
school for me a few months until I was sure as to whether I would 
return; they kindly did it. Then, to test whether there was 
interest in the work and if I had the proper qualifications for it, I 
arranged for a series of lectures in Boston in one of the lecture 
rooms in Tremont Temple. 

4 ‘The interest seemed to warrant my undertaking the work, 
and I decided to open a school in the fall, 1877, which I did on 
Tremont street. The interest was very great, and all the time I 
had my school in Boston I had more than I possibly could do; but 
naturally the expenses were great, and the first year, although I 
worked so very hard, my expenses were $500 over my income from 
my work. Afterwards my expenses were not so great and the 
income was more than the outgo. Personally I do not think that 
the commercial side appealed to me very greatly, but naturally 
if I spend money for a work I must earn enough to pay my debts. 
The work to me has been, and still is, most interesting; and I 
feel that it is one of the largest and broadest works a woman can 
do, and if I had the time, strength, and means I would devote 
myself to it still. I feel that while a great deal has been done 
along these lines that it is only the beginning. It is a magnifi¬ 
cent work for any young woman to take up.” 

The Boston Cooking School. 4 —In 1872 an associa¬ 
tion was formed in Boston, known as the Woman’s 
Education Association. ‘ ‘ The formation of standing 
committees on industrial, intellectual, {esthetic, moral, 
and physical education expressed the desire of the 

1 Report of Woman’s Education Association , 1893. Data furnished 
by Mrs. Sarah T. Hooper. Report of Annual Meeting of Boston Cooking 
School, 1883. 6 




HOME ECONOMICS IN THE EAST 


139 


founders that the better education of women should 
be understood in the broadest sense.’’ 

As a result of the work of the Committee on Indus¬ 
trial Education a cooking school was started March, 
1879, which in four years was incorporated as the 
Boston Cooking School, with Mrs. Sarah T. Hooper 
as president. Mrs. Hooper was a member of the 
Woman’s Education Association, and chairman of 
the Industrial Committee. It was largely due to her 
work and enthusiasm that the first incorporated cook¬ 
ing school in America owes its origin. 

The primary object of the school was to give in¬ 
struction in cooking to a class of women who would 
make it practically useful. But after the first season 
it was found difficult to create the interest among that 
class, so it was decided to open the school to all who 
wished to attend. The result was a large increase in 
attendance. The first teacher was Miss Johanna 
Sweeney, who had been conducting private classes in 
cooking. She had taken few lessons, but “was a born 
cook.” Miss Parloa, who was giving public demon¬ 
strations at Tremont Temple, was also engaged to 
give weekly demonstrations, in addition to Miss 
Sweeney’s work. 

In December, 1879, Mrs. D. A. Lincoln became 
principal of the school. Other principals have 
been Miss Ida Maynard, Mrs. 0. M. Dearborn, Miss 
Fannie M. Parmer, and Miss M. W. Howard. 5 

"Pioneers of Scientific Cookery, Good Housekeeping, Vol. LIy p. 470. 
Also Journal Home Economics , Vol. VII, p. 248. 



140 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 


The Boston Cooking School existed as a separate 
institution until 1902, when it was made a part of 
Simmons College. 

Mrs. Sara Tyson Rorer.—Mrs. Rorer gives the 
following account of her work: 

“ The New Century Club had opened a school of cookery 
(1878) under the care of a Miss Devereux, a pupil of Miss Parloa, 
and a Miss Sweeney, a pastry cook in Boston. A cousin, who 
was chairman of the Committee of Household Science in the 
New Century Club, called upon me and urged me to join the 
first class for the good of my family, which I did. At that time 
I was studying chemistry or pharmacy, with the idea of occupying 
the first position of this kind given to a woman in Philadelphia. 
I was also doing some preparatory work for the medical course 
in the Woman’s College but had not matriculated. I entered 
the cooking class, and became so interested, and saw so many 
possibilities coming from a school of this kind, that I immediately 
gave up my other work and went into this heart and soul. In 
less than a year I had given a course of cooking lectures, pure 
and simple, to the fourth year students at the Woman’s Medical 
College, and I had the honor of illustrating the first course of 
lectures given by a woman in the Franklin Institute of Philadel¬ 
phia. Dean Bodley was asked to give a scientific course on house¬ 
hold science, and I illustrated the lectures for her. From that time 
to this, as you know, I have never wanted for an audience. I 
have never been out of the work; I have never had any hindrances; 
on the contrary, it seemed to me that everybody welcomed any 
knowledge that they could get along practical lines. At the end 
of my first year Miss Devereux retired—her health broke down 
during the winter—and I was elected by the New Century Club 
to take her place. I taught for the Club for two years. A number 
of physicians in Philadelphia, realizing the importance of the 
work, asked me to withdraw from the Club and start an inde¬ 
pendent school. I did, and the first year I enrolled seventy-four 
practice pupils; I gave four demonstration lectures during the 
week, with audiences ranging from 1000 to 5000. There never 


HOME ECONOMICS IN THE EAST 


141 


was any drawback to any of the work after that. I named the 
school the Philadelphia School. It continued for twenty- 
five years. ’ ’ 6 

Beginnings in Public Schools. —The limits of 
space forbid an extended study of home economics in 
the public schools. The records show that sewing was 
the form in which household arts was first introduced 
into the public schools. Needlework was perhaps a 
relic of the teaching of the dame school and certainly 
of the convent training. 

At all events, the early records of the Boston 
Schools indicate that sewing was taught as early as 
1798, that it was extended to the second and third 
grades in 1835, and to the fourth grade by special per¬ 
mission of the Board of Education in 1854. 

The legislative act of 1870 which made drawing 
obligatory in the public schools of Massachusetts, and 
the act of 1872 7 which legalized sewing and other in¬ 
dustrial education, are the provisions on which Mas¬ 
sachusetts bases its claim for leadership in industrial 
education and household arts in the schools of the 
United States. However, it is recognized that the 
“cooking school” classes for adult women were the 
most fruitful influence not only in awakening inter¬ 
est in the subject but also in demonstrating that such 
work could be fitted into the public school program. 

Another important factor in the development of a 
study of the home in the public schools was the man- 

10 Letter from Mrs. Rorer. 

7 Report of Massachusetts Commission on Industrial Training and 
Industrial Education, 1893, pp. 51-52, 



142 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 

ual training movement which received a great im¬ 
petus through the Centennial Exposition at Philadel¬ 
phia in 1876. As this idea developed, it meant shop 
work for boys and domestic science for girls. In the 
decade from 1880 to 1890, domestic science, as it was 
then called, was quite generally introduced into the 
public schools of thq United States. 

By 1921, the United States Bureau of Education 
reported that in two-thirds of all the larger school 
systems “ home economics is required of all girls in 
the seventh and eighth grades.’’ In a considerable 
number of cities, it is also required in the fifth and 
sixth grades. “ The establishment of health habits 
and preparation for home helpfulness are the domi¬ 
nant motives now determining the courses of study 
and the methods of instruction.” 

Through the Parent-Teacher associations and 
Americanization work, particularly in the large cit¬ 
ies, a close connection has been established between 
the home and the school. This cooperation has often 
been secured through suggestions made by the home 
economics teacher concerning the diet of the under¬ 
nourished child. Much attention has recently been 
given to matters of personal hygiene, food habits and 
recording of weight and growth. In many rural 
schools, the work of the local teacher of home econom¬ 
ics is supplemented by cooperation with the extension 
agents in the homemaking, canning, and other clubs 
for girls. 


HOME ECONOMICS IN THE EAST 


143 


Secondary Education.— A report for 1922 states 
that courses in home economics are now given in more 
than eight thousand public high schools and in a con¬ 
siderable number of private secondary schools. The 
subjects presented in home economics represent al¬ 
most every phase of home activities, and are com¬ 
bined with science, art, literature, and history so as 
td give the elements of a liberal education. This type 
of work is known as general home economics. Under 
the provisions of the Smith-Hughes Act, enacted by 
the United States government in 1917, “vocational 
courses ” in homemaking and training in related 
occupations such as millinery, dressmaking, nursing, 
lunch room management, have been developed, and 
both the girl in the home and the one who goes into 
these vocations have been greatly helped. 8 

8 For further information, see U. S. Bureau of Education, 1914, 
Bulletin No. 36-38, Pts. I-IV; 1922 Bulletin, No. 5; 1922-23 Bulletin, 
Department of Agriculture Education and Research in Agriculture and 
Home Economics in the United States; Reports and Home Economics 
Bulletins of United States Board for Vocational Education, which admin¬ 
isters the Smith-Hughes Act. 



CHAPTER XII 

EARLY ALLIED MOVEMENTS 

Philanthropic Organizations interested in social 
problems found home economics an invaluable aid 
in their work and the Young Women’s Christian 
Associations and various church organizations early 
opened classes in cooking and sewing. 

The Kitchen Garden Movement, a plan for teach¬ 
ing children the household arts in the form of play 
activities which began in the 70s, served also as 
propaganda for education for the home. The Kitchen 
Garden Association of New York was transformed 
into the Industrial Educational Association of New 
York in 1884, and, as such, became a very valuable 
agency in developing both the subject-matter and the 
method of instruction in home economics and, finally, 
resulted in 1888 in establishing the New York College 
for Training Teachers, now the Teachers College of 
Columbia University. 

The World’s Fair.—Reference has already been 
made to the Centennial Exposition and its contribu¬ 
tion to the manual training movement. The World’s 
Fair in Chicago in 1893 was responsible for at least 
three developments of interest to home economics 
workers: The National Household Economics Asso¬ 
ciation, The Rumford Kitchen, and the collection and 
analysis of food materials under the auspices of the 
United States Department of Agriculture. 

144 


EARLY ALLIED MOVEMENTS 


145 


National Household Economics Association. —The 

work of woman was emphasized at the World’s Fair 
by the appointment of a Woman’s Board, by a 
Woman’s Building, and by a Woman’s Congress. 
Among the numerous subjects discussed at the 
Woman’s Congress, was the ever-present household 
problem. As a result of the discussion, the National 
Household Economics Association was organized in 
May, 1893, with Mrs. John Wilkinson of Chicago as 
president and Mrs. Ellen M. Henrotin as honorary 
president. The aim of the association was stated 
as follows: 

11 (1) To awaken the public mind to the importance of 
establishing bureaus of information where there can be an 
exchange of wants and needs between employer and employed in 
every department of home and social life. 

“ (2) To promote among members of the Association a more 
scientific knowledge of the economic value of various foods and 
fuels; a more intelligent understanding of correct plumbing and 
drainage in our homes, as well as the need for pure water and 
good light in a sanitarily built house. 

“(3) To secure skilled labor in every department of our 
homes and to organize schools of household science and 
service.’ ’ 1 

The organization worked for the most part 
through women’s clubs. Mrs. Linda Hull Larned, the 
last president of the National Household Economics 
Association, represented that association on the pro¬ 
gram of Women’s Work and Institutions at the Paris 
Exposition. This association carried on its work for 
ten years. In 1903 it was merged into the Household 
Economics Department of the General Federation of 

1 Journal of Home Economics , Vol. I, p. 185. 

10 

U ■ 0 " 



146 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 

Women’s Clubs, and thus continued the interest 
among that large and influential group of women. 

The Rumford Kitchen, an outgrowth of the New 
England Kitchen, a food demonstration center 
started at Boston in 1890, was a part of the educa¬ 
tional exhibit made by the state of Massachusetts at 
the World’s Fair at Chicago in 1893. It consisted of 
a workingman’s home in which a man and his wife 
lived. The purpose was to show how a workingman’s 
family could live on an income of $500 per year. Mrs. 
Ellen H. Richards, the promoter of the idea, used to 
tell, with much enjoyment, about the visit of two men 
who inspected the place carefully. As they were 
leaving, the one was heard to remark: “This house 
may be run on an income of $500 per year, but it 
takes a $5000 wife to do it.” 

Department of Agriculture. —The United States 
Department of Agriculture made a wonderful collec¬ 
tion of foods from all parts of the world for exhibit at 
the World’s Fair and later in the analysis of foods 
made a beginning of the Nutrition Investigations for 
which Congress made its first appropriations in 1894. 
The work was put in the Office of Experiment Sta¬ 
tions, under the direct personal supervision of Pro¬ 
fessor W. O. Atwater, and so was laid the foundation 
for the present Bureau of Home Economics of the 
United States Department of Agriculture. 

Thus the World’s Fair, with its exhibits and con¬ 
gresses, gave a great impetus to the scientific study of 
the problems of human nutrition, shelter and clothing 
and to all factors involved in family life. 


CHAPTER XIII 

LEADERS IN EARLY DEVELOPMENT 

Three names deserve special mention as leaders 
in the early development of the new science of the 
home: Professor Wilbur O. Atwater, Professor of 
Chemistry at Wesleyan University, Middletown, 
Connecticut; Dr. Alfred C. True of the United States 
Department of Agriculture; Mrs. Ellen H. Richards, 
Instructor in Sanitary Chemistry at the Massachu¬ 
setts Institute of Technology. 

Professor Atwater, when a pupil of Rubner, be¬ 
came interested in the question of human nutrition. 
In seeking opportunity to continue his studies, he 
worked with Carroll D. Wright, Commissioner of 
Labor for Massachusetts (afterward United States 
Commissioner of Labor) in the study of costs of liv¬ 
ing in workingmen’s families. Professor Atwater 
was for ten years the director of the Nutrition Inves¬ 
tigations of the United States Department of Agri¬ 
culture, of which some one has said: 

“Both in extent and variety of problems studied and in re¬ 
sults obtained, this represents the largest organized enterprise in 
this or any country for the specific purpose of studying such 
questions. ’ ’ 

Professor Atwater’s statement concerning the 
new science is most illuminating: 

“This science of household economics is now in what the 
chemists call a state of supersaturated solution which needs to 

147 


148 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 

crystallize out. Sometimes the point of a needle will start such 
crystallization. ’ ’ 

His interest was shown in a very practical and 
notable way when, by his invitation in the,summer of 
1902, about twenty-five persons interested in the bet¬ 
terment of the home met for conference and were 
given the privileges of the laboratories and class¬ 
rooms of Wesleyan University at Middletown, Con¬ 
necticut. Moreover, in the development of the plans 
for dietary studies which were made under his super¬ 
vision, he enlisted the cooperation of departments of 
home economics and of women eager to secure first¬ 
hand information about food. This cooperation was 
most valuable to the new departments not only be¬ 
cause of the knowledge gained but because of the rec¬ 
ognition and importance it gave to home economics 
among those less familiar with the subject. 

Dr. A. C. True.— No history of home economics is 
at all complete without acknowledgment of the debt 
owed to Doctor True, who, as Chief of the Office of 
Experiment Stations, and later as Director of the 
States Relations Service of the United States 
Department of Agriculture, through many years has 
been the unfailing friend, the wise counsellor, and 
general benefactor of home economics. The studies 
and publications made under his direction have been 
an invaluable source of information and inspiration 
to countless teachers of home economics. The Federal 
Nutrition Investigations and later Office of Home 
Economics were under his general supervision until 


LEADERS IN EARLY DEVELOPMENT 149 

erected into a separate Bureau in 1923. Only the 
pioneers in home economics can appreciate what the 
support of men such as Professor Atwater and 
Doctor True meant to the new enterprise in those 
early days. 

Mrs. Ellen H. Richards* leadership in home eco¬ 
nomics began with the Lake Placid Conference in 
1899, and until her death in April, 1911, she was its 
prophet, its interpreter, its conservator, and engi¬ 
neer. The breadth and variety of her interests are 
indicated by Dr. Andrews as follows: 

“Ellen Richards, 1842-1911, a New England woman, who 
graduated at Vassar in 1870, entered the Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology by special permission in 1871 as its first woman 
student, equipped herself in chemical science until she became 
a famous sanitary chemist, and served the Institute until her 
death as instructor in this field. During the last thirty years of 
her life Mrs. Richards interested herself in the applications of 
science to household problems of food, clothing, and shelter, and 
became leader of the movement for education in this field. Author 
herself of many books, such as The Chemistry of Cooking and 
Cleaning, Food Materials and their Adulteration, The Cost of 
Living, The Cost of Food, The Cost of Shelter, The Cost of Clean¬ 
ness, The Art of Right Living, Euthenies, and others; founded 
with Mr. and Mrs. Melvil Dewey of the Lake Placid Conference 
on Home Economics, and its chairman from 1899 to 1908; first 
president of the American Home Economics Association, 1909- 
1911; leader in social experiments related to the household, such 
as the New England Kitchen of Boston, 1890; the Rumford 
Kitchen (a plan for popular dietary teaching at the Chicago 
Exposition), the service of lunches to high school students in 1894 
(a century-old experiment of Rumford’s in Europe), and the 
“Household Aid Co., ,, an experiment in furnishing trained 
household service on call by the hour, 1903-1905; university lec¬ 
turer and popular speaker on household topics, consultant on 


150 THE DEVELOPMENT OE HOME ECONOMICS 


institution management, and adviser in health, sanitary, and edu¬ 
cational problems—this remarkable woman gave us, as much 
as any single individual ever gave a social result, our present 
national conviction of the necessity of education for the home. 
An d perhaps the most remarkable thing about this achievement 
is that it was the social by-product of a laboratory career in sani¬ 
tary science. ’ ’ 1 

The Lake Placid Conference.—The Lake Placid 
Conferences, like the National Home Economics As¬ 
sociation, lasted for ten years, 1899-1908, and then 
the Conference was 1 merged into the American Home 
Economics Association. Since the Conferences were 
made possible largely through the generous hospital¬ 
ity of Mr. and Mrs. Melvil Dewey, it seems fitting to 
reprint their account of those ten years, because it 
gives the history of these conferences and Mrs. Rich¬ 
ards’ part in them: 

“The small gathering of earnest pioneers (seven from outside, 
with four Lake Placid Club members) who met in an Adiron¬ 
dack boathouse in September, 1899, were fortunate in having as 
chairman a born leader, a woman who united just those qualities 
most necessary to inspire enthusiasm and confidence, to discover 
special gifts in others, and to direct them into channels where 
they would be most effective. 

“During a social visit to the club the previous summer, Mrs. 
Richards was asked to speak informally to a few members on the 
ever-present domestic problem, and out of this grew the sugges¬ 
tion for a serious conference 1 of trained workers, whose delibera¬ 
tions might have increased influence through united action. Of 
this small group, four have already passed over to the majority, 
Miss Emily Huntington, Miss Maria Parloa, Miss Maria Daniell 
and Mrs. Richards. The others who took part in the first gath¬ 
ering were Miss Anna Barrows, Mrs. W. V. Kellen, Miss Louisa 

‘Andrews, Education for the Home, Part I, p. 13, U. S. Bureau of 
Education. 



LEADERS IN EARLY DEVELOPMENT 


151 


A. Nicholass, Mrs. Alice P. Norton, Mrs. W. G. Shailer, and Mr. 
and Mrs. Melvil Dewey. * * * 

“To Mrs. Richards’ personal touch is largely due the won¬ 
derful progress made since that day. 

“With her recognition of the need came the clear vision of 
the remedy. With changing industrial and economic condi¬ 
tions, the home, the unit of society, was failing to meet the needs 
of better citizenship. Disintegration of the family was seen on 
every side. There was frightful waste of human efficiency be¬ 
cause of ignorance of right living and overwork under wrong 
conditions. To reach the lives of the people, she recognized that 
the whole general scheme of education, from grade school through 
college life, must incorporate courses of study and methods of 
presenting subjects within the range of daily life and personal 
application, affecting ideals of conduct to be carried into what¬ 
ever occupation or business might follow later. Such courses 
must be correlated and carried through education from the ear¬ 
liest yeans, developing knowledge of the true relation of things 
to the welfare' of the individual and giving to the people a sense 
of control over their environment. 

“From the beginning the purpose of the Lake Placid Confer¬ 
ence was educational, dealing with the economic and sociologic 
study of the home and with the problems of right living. Its 
keynote was 1 efficiency through health.’ 

“In her admirable paper, ‘Ten Years of the Lake Placid 
Conference on Home Economics; Its History and Aims,’ Mrs. 
Richards summarizes concisely the essential subjects discussed in 
the programs of these early years. Training of teachers of domes¬ 
tic science; courses of study for grade schools as well as colleges 
and universities; state, agricultural, evening, and vacation 
schools; extension teaching; rural school work; Home Economics 
in women’s clubs with syllabi to aid such study; manual training 
in education for citizenship. All these lead toward higher educa¬ 
tion and better living, in short to the new science of Euthenics, as 
an essential preliminary to the study of the better race, a study 
to which Mr. Francis Galton has given the name Eugenics. From 
the very first special emphasis was laid on the educational possi¬ 
bilities of this work. 


152 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 


‘‘A classification of the material included in the general sub¬ 
ject of Home Economics as a working basis, together with cor¬ 
rect nomenclature and annotated bibliographies were recognized 
among the first needs. Domestic science at farmers’ institutes, 
simplified methods of housekeeping, standards of living in the 
conduct of the home and in relation to sanitary science, house¬ 
hold industrial problems, labor-saving appliances, cost of living, 
standards of wages, were discussed. 

“ Programs have included the food problem in its many 
phases, from fads and fancies to protein metabolism and mineral 
matter required by the human body; nutrition, sanitation, hy¬ 
giene, progress in work for public health, represented by the 
work of the Health Education League and the Committee of One 
Hundred on National Health, leading to efficiency as the keynote 
of the twentieth century. 

11 Economics in trade and professional schools, Home Eco¬ 
nomics in training schools for nurses, the hospital dietitian and 
the status of institution managers, reports of experiments in 
dietetics under, many auspices, cooperation with the work of the 
United States Department of Agriculture, particularly with the 
nutrition investigations of the Office of Experiment Stations, re¬ 
ports from the American School of Home Economics, even psy¬ 
chic factors affecting home economics and cost of living have 
been considered. 

“Besides important reports of the teaching section and stand¬ 
ing committees, each meeting aimed to concentrate the best 
thoughts of leading workers on one special subject in order that 
the discussions each year might count as distinct progress in 
some limited part of the field. Mrs. Richards ’ strong person¬ 
ality attracted speakers eminent in educational and scientific 
work who gave their best freely at her request. 

“Two conferences were held by special invitation outside of 
Lake Placid, one at Boston in 1903, and one at Chautauqua in 
1908. In Boston, a joint session was held with the Manual 
Training Section of the National Education Association. Ef¬ 
forts were made annually to have the subject brought before this 
body of educators, but it needed the general awakening in the 
lines of rural, agricultural, and industrial education to bring to 


LEADERS IN EARLY DEVELOPMENT 


153 


a focus all the trend in modern life which makes the teaching of 
Home Economics in its various phases essential to social prog¬ 
ress. In 1908, just before the Chautauqua Conference, Mrs. 
Richards was asked to present a paper before the National Edu¬ 
cation Association Council, and her masterly treatment of the 
subject won for Home Economics its true place in the teaching 
world as the fourth R—Right Living—to be incorporated in the 
education of the people. This was followed by her election for a 
six-year term to the National Education Association Council, the 
highest educational authority in the country. 

“So far no constitution, by-laws, or red tape of any kind had 
hampered free initiative in the Lake Placid Conference. The 
movement was held and guided by Mrs. Richards ’ enthusiasm and 
power to inspire others. To a marked degree she had the gift 
of prophetic vision, the clear ideal which precedes intelligent ac¬ 
tion. The time now seemed ripe for a national association and 
steps were taken at Chautauqua for such an organization. 

“In the ten years of its existence the mission of the Lake 
Placid Conference was fulfilled. Under Mrs. Richards’ wise 
leadership it had pointed out the way—which the many were now 
ready to follow. For her no labor has been too arduous, no 
sacrifice of time or pleasure too great when demanded by the in¬ 
terests of this work. 

“As a presiding officer, she combined tact and force with the 
rare power of obtaining results, sifting chaff from wheat and 
crystallizing the essential from thought and discussion. After 
a session, committee meetings would sometimes be going on in all 
four corners of the room, and before they dispersed she would 
have the best each had to offer. 

“When the history of this great Home Economics Movement' 
is written, the name which will stand easily first in recognizing 
the need, organizing the work, and shaping the policies, will be 
that of Ellen H. Richards.” 2 

2 Journal of Home Economics, Vol. Ill, p. 350. Mrs. Ellen H. Richards: 
Her Relation to the Lake Placid Conference in Home Economics. 








CHAPTER XIY 


FOUNDING OF THE AMERICAN HOME 
ECONOMICS ASSOCIATION 

It is evident from the foregoing statement that 
the Lake Placid Conference had done a great work, 
not only as a clearing house for the exchange of ideas 
and formulation of new plans for students, teachers, 
homemakers, and oth&r individuals interested in the 
betterment of life, but also as a means of diffusing 
information about home economics and interpreting 
the term to the general public. 

A preliminary committee on national organiza¬ 
tion was appointed and later reported that the time 
had come to form a national organization; that the 
proposed organization should publish a journal; and 
that a name national in character should be adopted. 
The report brought quick results in resolutions to the 
effect that the time had come for a national organiza¬ 
tion; that its name should be the American Home 
Economics Association; and that the conference 
should begin the publication of a quarterly bulletin. 
A quotation from this Quarterly, from Mrs. Rich¬ 
ards’ own pen, shows the philosophy of the leader: 

“In reply to many requests for suggestions as to methods of 
teaching, the editor reminds teachers that the hill of learning is 
not to be cut down so that the road lies sunken between high 
banks of sand or hard rock, neither is it to be tunneled for the 
sake of quickly reaching the presumably flowery meadow beyond. 

154 


AMERICAN HOME ECONOMICS ASSOCIATION 155 


It is the teacher’s duty to provide wayside shrines, with cool 
water and fruits and flowers, near enough together to entice the 
eager learner to reach them—with time enough to rest and take 
pleasure in the ever-enlarging horizon. When the first crest is 
reached there should be no sense of fatigue but only a desire for 
the outlook from the next higher. ’ ’ 1 

National Organization. —The formal steps in the 
organization of the American Home Economics Asso¬ 
ciation were accomplished through the meeting of 
the teaching section of the Lake Placid Conference 
at the McKinley Manual Training High School at 
Washington, D. C., December 31, 1908, with Miss 
Helen Kinne as presiding officer. 

Assistant Secretary of Agriculture Hays in wel¬ 
coming the new association spoke in part as follows: 

“The American people are going to welcome most earnestly 
the organization you are so splendidly inaugurating. You can¬ 
not even now, as I believe, dream of what is to come to the women 
of America, and the homes of America, * * * * through 

this organization to build up the vocation of homemaking.” 2 

Survey of the Field. —Commissioner of Educa¬ 
tion Elmer E. Brown also brought words of greeting 
to the new Association: 

“You are doing something in a very positive way to make the 
home life better. * # I cannot help thinking that the really 
great significance of your work after all is moral. # # 

When you couple with that skill in doing things enough ideas so 
that one feels that one is really taking part in the intellectual 
life of his time while he is doing ordinary and simple duties, you 
have one of the strongest pedagogical combinations. 

“To put ideas and the real possession of skill into the making 
of a better home life, that is the ideal that you have before you in 


1 Journal of Home Economics, Vol. Ill, p. 360. 

2 Ibid., Vol. I, p. 12. 



156 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 


a way that is of great significance, and I am sure that all who are 
interested in the educational work of this country wish you well— 
wish you the largest measure of success in your undertaking. ’ ’ 3 

Dr. True spoke in part as follows: 

“Honored as I have been with an invitation to speak at the 
first annual meeting of the American Home Economics Associa¬ 
tion, I have come, I trust, with some appreciation of the impor¬ 
tance of the enterprise in which you are engaged. * * * * 

‘ ‘ This is, indeed, a great movement, and one that is growing 
rapidly, and yet it has lacked those elements of coherence and co¬ 
ordination which I think are very necessary to its best develop¬ 
ment. It has been thus far largely a local and concentrated 
movement in which people here and there in the different com¬ 
munities have engaged. And, therefore, it is a matter of great 
importance that you have come together here at this time to form 
this national organization, so that this great movement may have 
a rallying point, a forum for the discussion of great problems in¬ 
volved in it, a means of bringing all the widely scattered groups 
of workers together in sympathy and in mutual helpfulness. It 
is true that you have already had the influence of the Lake Placid 
Conference, and I have known something of the usefulness of its 
work ***** 

“We have seemed to be at the high-tide of prosperity and in¬ 
fluence, but right in the midst of this there has been struck by 
our wise men a note of alarm. At this very time when you are 
met here to form this organization, our people, led by their great¬ 
est men and women, have become suddenly serious and thought¬ 
ful, and even fearful of the future. We have piled up wealth 
almost without measure, but now the question has arisen whether 
this is simply that this great wealth shall come into the hands of 
a few people and be used for the corruption and the ruin of our 
national life. We have brought together under the best influ¬ 
ences in many ways great masses of people, but now the question 
has arisen whether we can maintain among these people a good 
home life. We have used our national resources and devel¬ 
oped them with great skill, but now the question has arisen 

3 Ibid., Vol. I, p. 27. 




AMERICAN HOME ECONOMICS ASSOCIATION 157 


whether we are so rapidly using them up that they will all be 
gone within a few years. * * * * 

“Among the questions that are engaging our thought and 
attention today, certainly none is more important than that whicn 
centers about the problems of our homes. Can we maintain 
them as the pure source and happy environment of a vigorous 
childhood; can we keep them as the satisfactory supporters and 
encouragers of manhood and womanhood; can we hold them as 
the sure solace and refuge of old age ? Shall the American home 
go on to greater perfection or shall it weaken and lose its hold 
upon our people? Shall we become simply a vast mass of un¬ 
related individuals? It is this problem that your Association 
and the people whom you represent have especially taken as your 
work. Not that you are the only organization engaged in this 
work, for there are many others which are doing noble and useful 
work. But as you represent very largely the educational ele¬ 
ment working for the solution of the problems of the home, 
there is every reason why your organization should take a leading 
position in the effort to help our homes. * * * * 

“It seems to me that there are three great lines of endeavor 
in which such an organization as this may properly engage: 
First, you may do much to promote the increase of knowledge of 
the subjects with which you deal; second, you may do a great 
deal to help and improve the system of education along these 
lines; and in the third place, you may do a great work towards 
securing the more satisfactory diffusion of information on these 
subjects among the masses of our people. * * * * 

“In this movement, as in all similar movements, the funda¬ 
mental requirement is exact and satisfactory knowledge of the 
subjects involved in the movement. Research, then, should be 
prosecuted in a vigorous and comprehensive manner, in order 
that we may know the truth, and that that may be the basis of 
all our endeavors. Thus far there has been very little of accu¬ 
rate, strong and comprehensive research along these lines, and 
the agencies for such work are extremely inadequate. * * * 

“Then the system of education in home economics is only in 
its formative stage. The lines and methods of work have only 
been roughly blocked out as yet. There needs to be much study 


158 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 


and much effort to perfect this system, to give it high pedagog¬ 
ical value, to put it in a position to find its proper place in our 
general educational system. * * * * 

“ Finally, we are coming in all lines of educational effort to 
see that it is not enough that we should have a satisfactory sys¬ 
tem of education for the people who go to school, but that we must 
reach out beyond the schools and by various methods, which are 
sometimes embraced under the general head of university ex¬ 
tension work, reach the masses of people so that they may have 
some intelligent conception of what is involved in such matters as 
these you are interested in, and shall have brought to them some 
definite and satisfactory information which may help them in 
their daily lives. # * * To make the work that we are 

engaged in really effective, we must carry it out to the people 
through the living teacher, and that teacher must be provided 
with the means of actually demonstrating to the people the things 
that he desires to teach. And so we are having the organization 
of various kinds of demonstration work.” 4 

Thus was launched this great enterprise which, 
according to the constitution, has for its purpose: 

4 ‘ The improvement of living conditions in the home, the insti¬ 
tutional household and the community; and welcomes to its 
membership all who are actively interested in home problems in¬ 
cluding : all professionally concerned with this field, as teachers 
of Domestic Science and Art, Home and Institutional Econom¬ 
ics, and allied educational fields, students, investigators, house¬ 
keepers, institution managers, social and municipal workers, 
interested housewives and homemakers; professional workers in 
allied fields, as educators, physicians, hygienists, sanitary experts, 
architects, and others; clubs, associations, societies, and institu¬ 
tions interested in the work of the Association. ? ’ 5 

These leaders have been quoted to show the 
breadth and variety of interests represented and 
the task to which the new organization committed it- 




AMERICAN HOME ECONOMICS ASSOCIATION 159 

self. This meeting must have brought inspiration 
and encouragement to the original eleven members of 
that first Lake Placid Conference. In ten years their 
efforts had resulted in an Association with seven hun¬ 
dred members and a Journal! 

Mrs. Richards had been at once proclaimed as 
President. Associated with her as officers were Miss 
Isabel Bevier, Dr. C. P. Langworthy, Miss Mary 
Urie Watson, as Vice-Presidents, and Dr. Benjamin 
R. Andrews, as Secretary-Treasurer. 

Though Mrs. Mary Hinman, Abel did not assume 
the formal editorship of the Home Economics Jour¬ 
nal until September, 1909, she worked so closely with 
Mrs. Richards in the Association’s plans that she was 
really identified with the Journal from the very be¬ 
ginning. The Association was exceedingly fortunate 
in having so able and skillful a leader for the first 
editor of its Journal. 

The Task.—So much for the machinery of the new 
organization. It is perhaps well to consider briefly 
the task to which it had pledged its efforts. The goal 
is easily stated: the betterment of life “ in the home, 
the institutional household, the community.” How¬ 
ever, the task has been a very different and diffi¬ 
cult proposition. 

One gathers from the addresses quoted that the 
new association had made a place for itself in the 
minds of leaders in the world’s work; that its possi¬ 
bilities were recognized; but also that, as Dr. True 
said, “the lines and methods of work have only been 


* 


160 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 


roughly blocked out as yet.” There were many crit¬ 
ics of the new housekeeping and many dissenters 
among those who stood high in the councils of educa¬ 
tion from the idea of connecting home and school. 
The great gulf between the classes may be shown by 
two instances. One is a statement by the President of 
Bryn Mawr College : 

4 ‘ There are, however, not enough elements of intellectual 
growth in cooking or housekeeping to furnish a very serious or 
profound course of training for really intelligent women. 7 * 6 

The other was the attitude of mind found in the 
woman on an 800-acre farm on the Illinois prairies. 
This woman, with her large household representing 
many varied interests, had been trained in the school 
of experience. She was living at the sources of life. 
Economic, aesthetic, sanitary, social and moral prob¬ 
lems were a part of the warp and woof of her daily 
life. She had not named or card-catalogued them, 
but she lived through them daily and in her heart of 
hearts she longed for help to make life better and 
sweeter for herself and her loved ones. She looked 
to the schools to show her a better way of life. She 
felt somehow that if the college could do so much for 
the work of the farmer, it ought also to be able to do 
something for the farmer’s wife. 

Not only women on the farm, but women and girls 
everywhere were eager for the new life, and for all it 
had to offer in their lives. Home Economics found its 
central purpose in meeting their need. 


6 Educational Review, Vol. XXI, pp. 6-7. 



CHAPTER XV 
EDUCATIONAL EMPHASIS 

The original Lake Placid group had distin¬ 
guished itself by putting emphasis upon the educa¬ 
tional phase of the question and, from the first, there 
had been committees commissioned to find ways and 
means so to develop the subject-matter that it would 
find favor with public school boards and the makers 
of college curricula. By the time the Association was 
started, several of the land-grant colleges had passed 
the period of “ trial and error ” in their own academic 
circles, so there was considerable material for refer¬ 
ence available. Cooking and sewing, food and cloth¬ 
ing, were the foundation stones laid for the building. 
Sewing found most favor with public school officials 
because it cost less to install and could be “put in” 
without so much bother—a table or two, a few chairs, 
a pair of scissors, and behold—the new idea had 
sprouted. Cooking, on the other hand, required a 
kitchen, plumbing, supply closets, space, money, but 
its results were more satisfying, particularly to the 
inner man, and so both grew in favor. 

In the colleges, the method of approach differed, 
depending upon the resources of the institution, the 
attitude of those in authority, and sometimes upon 
the ability of the new woman in the new department 
to be all things to all men and some women. Kansas 
11 161 


162 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 

Agricultural College arrived first through lectures in 
chemistry; Iowa State College through work with 
food in the college dormitory; Illinois laid broad 
foundations in 1874 and that spirit obtained when 
fhe department started anew in 1900 with food and 
the home as the entering wedges to secure a 
broad curriculum. 

Varying Emphasis. —Because of the wide scope of 
the subject-matter of Home Economics, Mrs. Rich¬ 
ards thought best to emphasize different phases at 
each annual meeting. Accordingly, a glance at the 
topics presented at the second annual meeting in Bos¬ 
ton in the closing days of 1909 shows strong emphasis 
upon the scientific phase. 

The choice was probably due in part to the fact 
that the American Association for the Advancement 
of Science was also meeting in Boston at that time. 
The opening session was given over to a discussion of 
the “Sciences in Relation to Home Economics.” 
Papers were presented by Professors C. L. Norton on 
Physics, James P. Norris on Chemistry, Percy G. 
Stiles on Physiology, and W. J. Gies on Bio-Chemis¬ 
try. In conference and sectional meetings, “High 
School Work,” “College Courses,” “Relation of 
Fine Art to Domestic Art” and the “Work of the 
Dietitian” were considered. In the general session, 
science came to the front again in a discussion on 
“Recent Progress in the Study of Nutrition in Rela¬ 
tion to Dietetics,” with Professors Henry C. Sher¬ 
man, Lafayette B. Mendel and Otto Folin as speakers 


EDUCATIONAL EMPHASIS 


163 


Papers on “ Newer Professional Fields,” “ Pood 
Standards in Lunch Rooms/ ’ “ Vocational Tenden¬ 
cies/’ and u Extension Work ” indicate that many 
lines of work were already established. 

A communication received from Dr. True repre¬ 
senting a committee of the American Association of 
Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations, 
asked for a committee from the Home Economics 
Association to confer with the committee which was 
preparing a report on a course of study in Home 
Economics in these colleges. Such a committee, known 
as the Committee on Nomenclature, was appointed. 
Its purpose was to study usage and compare data in 
order that terms and definitions might be proposed 
which would make for accuracy and uniformity. 
The committee began its work at once and reported 
from time to time to the Association. 

The Journal in reporting the Boston meeting said 
in closing: 

“The Boston program emphasized the relation of natural 
science, physics, chemistry, and biology to the home. The next 
meeting while holding to and reiterating this fact ought to stress 
as vigorously the equally pertinent relations of economic and so¬ 
cial science to the home and the institutional household. ’ ’ 1 

In order to get a glimpse of the work from outside 
the immediate circle, the reports of the United States 
Commissioner of Education for this period have been 
examined. According to the reports, the new Associa¬ 
tion was welcomed and special mention made of the 


1 Journal of Home Economics, Vol. II, p. 8. 



164 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 

following projects as indicative of the interest in 
work for the home: the new building and organization 
of the School of Household Arts at Teachers College, 
Columbia University, designed primarily to provide 
preparation for teaching positions in the field of 
Household Arts and Sciences of all grades from the 
primary school to the university; the opening of a 
State School of Manual Arts and Home Economics at 
Santa Barbara, California, said to be the first of its 
kind in the United States; the reorganization of the 
Department of Home Economics at the University 
of Wisconsin; a new course in homemaking at 
Stout Institute, Menominee, Wisconsin; Movable 
Schools of Domestic Science in Kansas; Girls’ 
Domestic Science Clubs in Nebraska, Girls’ High 
School of Practical Arts in Boston, and the practice 
house or apartment. 

The next meeting of the American Home Eco¬ 
nomics Association was held at St. Louis at the end 
of 1910 in company with the American Sociological 
Society and the American Economics Association. 
Enthusiasm, interest and numbers attested the suc¬ 
cess of the meeting. Valuable suggestions were 
received in the papers presented by such distin¬ 
guished economists and sociologists as Professors 
Kinley, Fetter, Ellwood and Howard. A discussion on 
“Methods of Instruction,” the report on “College 
Courses” and the appointment of the committee on 
“College Entrance Requirements” were proofs that 
the educational phase was being cared for, while the 


EDUCATIONAL EMPHASIS 


165 


increase in the number of the affiliated associations 
and the contacts with other organizations showed how 
the circle of influence was being enlarged. 

Loss of Leader. —To the surprise and disappoint¬ 
ment of everyone, Mrs. Richards asked to be released 
from the burdens she had carried so long and faith¬ 
fully as President. With deep regret her request was 
granted, but she was made honorary president. Lit¬ 
tle did that group realize that this was the beginning 
of the final separation from their beloved leader. 
After a week’s illness, Mrs. Richards died at her 
home, March 30, 1911. 2 

A paper by Mrs. Richards in the April number of 
the Journal entitled “ Social Significance of the 
Home Economics Movement,” is her last statement 
of purpose. 3 

“We call today for more faith in a way out of the slough of 
despond, more resolute endeavor to improve social and economic 
conditions, and we beg the leaders of public opinion to pause be¬ 
fore they condemn the efforts made to teach those means of social 
control which may build yet again a home life which will prove 
the nursery of good citizens and, of efficient men and women with 
a sense of responsibility to God and man for the use they make 
of their lives.” 

The June number of the Home Economics Jour¬ 
nal for 1911 contains a tribute to Mrs. Richards, and 
the October number of that year was set aside as a 
memorial number for her. 

By 1911, under the wise leadership of Mrs. Rich- 

' Ibid., Vol. III, pp. 214-216 

3 Ibid., Vol. Ill, p. 125. 


o 



166 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 

ards, home economics had attained an honorable place 
among educational and social agencies. The influence 
of the members of the American Home Economics 
Association was sought by many types of organi¬ 
zation. Its journal was recording the steps in what 
may be called the internal development of the sub¬ 
ject. It was no small undertaking to develop courses 
of instruction adapted to different types of schools— 
public, private, technical institutes, colleges and uni¬ 
versities—to decide upon the basic and related sub¬ 
jects, and to give due proportion to the main 
division. Committees worked diligently to get the 
subject-matter into pedagogical form so that it 
might take its proper place in the curriculum. The 
results of their efforts are shown in the syllabus of 
Home Economics published by the Association 
in 1913. 

Syllabus of Home Economics. —The committee 
which formulated the Syllabus was Dr. A. C. True, 
Dr. Benjamin E. Andrews, Dean Sarah Louise Ar¬ 
nold, Dr. C. F. Langworthy, Miss Abby L. Marlatt, 
Miss Flora Eose, Miss Elizabeth C. Sprague and 
Miss Isabel Bevier, Chairman. In this connection 
mention must be made of the invaluable services of 
Dr. True and Dr. Langworthy, upon whom rested 
the responsibility in large measure for the actual 
compilation and arrangement of the material. 4 

“The purpose of this syllabus is to classify in logical order the 
various topics which can properly be included under the term 


4 Syllabus of Home Economics, p. 7. 



EDUCATIONAL EMPHASIS 


167 


home economics. It does not represent an outline for the course 
of instruction, but rather a classified list of topics from which 
courses can be made up.” 

The definition of home economics was stated as 
follows: 

‘‘Home Economics, as a distinctive subject of instruction, is 
the study of the economic, sanitary and aesthetic aspects of food, 
clothing, and shelter as connected with their selection, prepara¬ 
tion, and use by the family in the home or by other groups of 
people. * * * # 

‘ ‘ Home economics, like many other subjects of instruction, for 
example, sociology, engineering, or agriculture, is a complex. In 
it, the contributing subjects are grouped around the ideas of 
food, clothing and shelter. Among contributing subjects are art, 
history, anthropology, sociology, aesthetics, economics, physiol¬ 
ogy, hygiene, mathematics, chemistry, physics, and biology. * * * 

“As is the case with many other subjects, courses of instruc¬ 
tion in home economics may be cultural, technical or vocational 
and the grade of instruction be primary, secondary, or advanced. 
The instructor must select the proper material from the total 
range provided, the selection being determined by the particular 
requirements of the case. ’ ’ 

The committee also proposed the following main 
divisions of the subject-matter: (1) Pood, (2) Cloth¬ 
ing, (3) Shelter, (4) Household and Institution 
Management. 

“ The plan of arrangement of material finally adopted sub¬ 
divides the three main divisions, food, clothing, and shelter, into 
(1) Selection, (2) Preparation, (3) Use; and the fourth main 
division, Household and Institution Management, into, (1) Mater¬ 
ial basis, (2) Social contacts, (3) Activities and functions and 
(4) Aims and results. The headings, ‘ selection,’ ‘ preparation,’ 
and ‘ use ’ are further subdivided with reference to economic, 
scientific, sanitary and aesthetic aspects so far as these apply to 
the subject, under such headings as ‘ theoretical considerations,’ 


168 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 


‘ classification/ ‘ composition and properties/ 4 production and 
manufacture/ 4 adulteration/ and ‘ cost.’ The principal divi¬ 
sions of the fourth section are also subdivided each in a way to 
develop its special meaning. ’ ’ 5 

The scientific phase of home economics was the 
first to be developed not only because of universal in¬ 
terest in food but also because of the valuable litera¬ 
ture on nutrition and other phases of food work 
which had been prepared by the United States De¬ 
partment of Agriculture. The importance of the so¬ 
cial, economic and artistic phases, however, were 
soon recognized and given due attention. It may be 
said that the committee on the syllabus had planned 
to elaborate and extend the social and economic 
phases of the subject. 


6 Ibid., p. 4 ff. 



CHAPTER XYI 

HOME ECONOMICS SINCE 1912 

The history of home economics since 1912 may 
he considered under three heads: Development, War 
and Reconstruction. 

Development. —The first three years of this period 
show steady growth and development of subject- 
matter along lines indicated in the syllabus. Grad¬ 
ually, the public realized that home economics meant 
not only selection and preparation of food but 
also the improvement of the home. Accordingly, 
one finds in the literature of home economics pleas 
for courses in the home, for house planning, notices 
of special courses for home makers, and suggestions 
for the study of the family and for art in the home. 
Home economics did not escape that watchword “ ef¬ 
ficiency. ” The promoters of scientific management 
found a wide field for effort in the haphazard busi¬ 
ness of housekeeping. The economic questions in¬ 
volved came in for their share of attention and the 
words “division of income” and “family budgets” 
were added to the vocabulary of home economics. A 
serious study of the home, its processes and products 
disclosed the fact that many questions concerning 
time-honored practices could not be answered intelli¬ 
gently, and pointed very clearly to the need for re¬ 
search. Much profit had accrued to home economics 


170 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 

by research in problems of nutrition, but it was real¬ 
ized that most questions of household processes, such 
as “ What makes jelly jell ? ” were more likely to be 
solved by women. 

Further emphasis on home and family life was 
given in 1913 by the United States Government in its 
recognition of the claims of mother and child in the 
formation of the Children’s Bureau, also by a ques¬ 
tionnaire on “Home and Woman,” sent out by Sec¬ 
retary Houston of the United States Department of 
Agriculture. His point of view is shown in the fol¬ 
lowing quotation: 

“The woman on the farm is a most important economic fac¬ 
tor in agriculture. Her domestic work undoubtedly has a di¬ 
rect bearing on the efficiency of the field workers, her handling 
of the home and its surroundings contributes to the cash intake, 
and, in addition, hers is largely the responsibility for contrib¬ 
uting the social and other features which make farm life satis¬ 
factory and pleasurable. On her rests largely the moral and 
mental development of the children, and on her attitude depends 
in great part the important question of whether the succeeding 
generation will continue to farm or will seek the allurements of 
life in the cities. ’ ? 1 

Another great department of the government 
gave substantial proof of its interest. The United 
States Bureau of Education, in the Department of 
the Interior, published in 1914 a series of bulletins on 
“Education for the Home.” They present a survey 
of courses given in lower and higher schools and in 
teacher-training and on the college level. The reasons 
for such publications were in part the following: 


’ See Journal of Home Economics, Vol. IX, p. 4. 



HOME ECONOMICS SINCE 1912 


171 


4 ‘ For most people the home is the beginning and end of life. 
All their activities proceed from it and return to it. Therefore, 
of all the arts, those pertaining to homemaking are the most im¬ 
portant and of all the sciences those which find their application 
in the home, making us intelligent about the home and its needs, 
are the most significant. 

11 If the schools are to assist in making us intelligent about the 
life we live and the work we do, they must provide liberally for 
instruction in these arts and sciences. Within the last two or 
three decades educators and people generally have become con¬ 
scious of this fact as never before, and gradually the schools are 
being readjusted to meet the new demands. Probably they have 
never undertaken a more important or difficult task, and there 
is constant need for information in regard to methods adopted 
and results obtained. 5 

Progress was made in this period in developing 
combinations of borne economics with some form of 
social work such as the connection made between 
Simmons College and the settlements of Boston, 
the extension of housekeeping centers in many cities, 
and the food work done in connection with the wel¬ 
fare work of manufacturing plants. Feeding of 
school children, which had been started in the ’90s as 
a result of the public recognition of the relation be¬ 
tween food and health, was now being furthered by 
the training of lunchroom managers. The new pro¬ 
fession of the dietitian, who was to plan food for both 
the well and the sick, the child and the adult, was be¬ 
ing recognized. The terms “standard diet” and 
“basal ration” came into use. Under the skillful 
guidance of Miss Helen Louise Johnson, and other 
leaders, the National Federation of Women’s Clubs 


Ibid., Vol. IX, p. 5. 




172 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 


was doing excellent work in home economics. A most 
important step had come through the passage of the 
Smith-Lever Act in May, 1914. This act makes pro¬ 
vision for 

4 ‘Cooperative agricultural extension work which shall consist 
of the giving of instruction and practical demonstrations in Agri¬ 
culture and Home Economics to persons not attending nor resi¬ 
dent in the agricultural college . 17 

Thus did home economics appear for the first 
time in the official records of the United States 
Department of Agriculture. This program meant 
that farm life was no longer to be judged by the 
number of its flocks and herds alone, but by the 
kind of life maintained in the farm home. The Act 
is distinguished by the fact that it was the first spe¬ 
cific legislation for the home by the Federal Govern¬ 
ment, and also by the magnitude of the resources it 
made available. No single legislative act has brought 
to home economics either such great opportunities 
or such serious obligations. 

The Act provided the machinery for carrying the 
information from the college to the woman in the 
farm home, opened new opportunities for service, and 
new methods for testing the value of home economics. 
To establish machinery by which the latest scientific 
discoveries may be carried to women throughout 
the length and breadth of the land was a magnifi¬ 
cent achievement. Educators from abroad consider it 
one of America’s greatest educational object lessons. 
The value of this machinery was demonstrated on a 
large scale in the World War. Under the Emergency 


HOME ECONOMICS SINCE 1912 173 

Fund, women trained in home economics were placed 
irncity and country to carry to the people the instruc¬ 
tions of the Food Administration. 

The plans for the administration of the Smith- 
Lever Act resulted in the organization in 1915 in the 
Department of Agriculture of the States Relations 
Service under the leadership of the faithful friend of 
home economics, Dr. A. C. True. In the readjust¬ 
ment, the scope of the work previously included in 
nutrition investigations was extended to include 
studies of clothing, household equipment, and house¬ 
hold labor, and was officially designated as the Office 
of Home Economics. This office continued to have as 
Director, Dr. C. F. Langworthy, for a long time iden¬ 
tified with research in home economics. So the term 
“Extension in Home Economics” came to have a 
richer and a larger significance. 

Other new contacts for home economics were 
made in this year. The United States Bureau of 
Education added to its working forces two women, 
Henrietta Calvin and Carrie A. Lyf ord, as specialists 
in home economics, and from that time on pro¬ 
vided a national information service upon educa¬ 
tional problems in the home economics field. Another 
step in the forward progress of the cause was evi¬ 
denced by the creation of a division of home econom¬ 
ics in the Association of Land-Grant Colleges. 

By 1916, the foundations of home economics were 
fairly well settled in the curricula of many types of 
schools. To be sure, home economics had not been 


174 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 

given a place in the larger women’s colleges, but there 
is much reason to believe it had influenced in a meas¬ 
ure their offerings in sociology, economics, chemistry, 
and biology. The appreciation of the public was as¬ 
sured and beginning to be intelligent. Extension 
work on the new foundation was only fairly started 
when the unexpected happened. 

War.—The war cloud which had hovered over the 
lands across the seas broke in all its fury. The call to 
arms for the men was followed quickly by a call to 
the men and women of the country to serve in the 
first line of defense at home. Out of all the chapters 
written in the history of the World War none is more 
honorable, more free from criticism, more fruitful 
of good works, than that of the women’s part. At 
home or in the hospitals of the far-flung battle lines 
they did their part, and the very necessities of the 
situation put emphasis upon the value of home eco¬ 
nomics training. Because of the importance of food 
to the soldier and private citizen, agriculture and 
home economics worked together to meet the nation’s 
need—the one in the line of production; the other in 
conservation by the wise use of materials. It is safe 
to say that the people of the United States, as a whole, 
learned more of food, its classes, uses, and cost than 
they had learned in any five years before. Calories 
were no longer ridiculed. They were regarded with 
respect as the measuring unit of the world’s re¬ 
sources in food. Literally hundreds of women trained 
in home economics demonstrated at home the conser- 


HOME ECONOMICS SINCE 1912 175 

vation of food, while in the hospitals abroad they 
worked as dietitians against fearful odds to give food 
and courage to the soldiers. The Food Administra¬ 
tion called them into service from Washington to the 
remotest country hamlet. By their efforts, combined 
with those of the men, the United States saved food 
not only for the boys in the trenches but also for the 
women and children of other lands. 

The successive steps in developing plans for home 
economics in connection with the Food Administra¬ 
tion are indicated by the conference called by Mr. 
Herbert Hoover in May, 1917. This conference 
resulted in the appointment of an Advisory Commit¬ 
tee to work under Dr. R. L. Wilbur, President of 
Leland Stanford University, Head of Food Conser¬ 
vation Division of the Food Administration. The 
members were: 3 Miss Abby L. Marlatt, Chairman; 
Miss Josephine T. Berry, Dr. Alice Boughton, Mrs. 
Henrietta Calvin, Dr. C. F. Langworthy, Miss Isabel 
Ely Lord, Dr. Alonzo E. Taylor; Advisory Members: 
Miss Catharine MacKay, President of the American 
Home Economics Association, Miss Martha Van 
Rensselaer, Miss Florence Ward. The Editor of the 
Journal of Home Economics, Mrs. Alice P. Norton, 
was asked to act as Editorial Secretary for home eco¬ 
nomics in the Food Administration. 

In order to bring different sections of the country 
in closer touch with the Food Administration, the 
plan was made that representative women from dif- 


Vol. IX, p. 391. 



176 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 

ferent colleges should hold the position of chief of 
the home economics section of the Pood Administra¬ 
tion for two months at a time. 4 Miss Marlatt served 
until September; Miss Mary E. Sweeney for Septem¬ 
ber and October; Miss Isabel Bevier for November 
and December. As time passed and the needs grew 
the organization was extended. Cooperative work was 
undertaken by the United States Department of Ag¬ 
riculture and the United States Food Administra¬ 
tion in the publication of a series of leaflets. Miss 
Katharine Blunt was called to Washington to direct 
the preparation of these leaflets and Miss Elizabeth 
Sprague to take charge of the Experimental Kitchen. 
Miss Martha Van Rensselaer served as Chairman 
of the Home Economics Division for the latter half 
of the war period. Aside from the work in Washing¬ 
ton, the home economics workers in the states served 
as members of the Council of Defense. In almost 
every state the Chairman of Conservation was a 
member of the home economics faculty of the univer¬ 
sity or agricultural college. These people were called 
to Washington frequently for conference with Mr. 
Hoover and were active in many types of war work 
at home. 

Smith-Hughes Act.—In the midst of these respon¬ 
sibilities for home economics workers, yet another 
was added by the passage of the Smith-Hughes Vo¬ 
cational Education Act, February, 1917. The pur¬ 
pose of this act is to promote vocational education in 


4 Ibid., Vol. IX, p. 487. 



HOME ECONOMICS SINCE 1912 


177 


agriculture, home economics, trades and industries, 
and to provide for the training of teachers in 
these subjects. 

The program for carrying out the Act included 
three types of schools: 1. all-day schools; 2. part- 
time schools; 3. evening schools. Home economics 
education was defined as: “That form of vocational 
education which has for its controlling purpose the 
preparation of girls and women for useful employ¬ 
ment as house daughters and as home makers engaged 
in the occupations and management of the home.” 5 

Another provision of the Act is stated as follows: 
“Such education shall be of less than college grade 
and shall be designed to meet the needs of persons 
over 14 years of age who have entered upon or are 
preparing to enter upon employment.’’ 0 

In the seven years that have passed since the 
Act was put into operation there are several evi¬ 
dent results: a great impetus to home economics 
education; much discussion concerning the processes 
involved in homemaking and an attempt to analyze 
the vocation; attempts to distinguish between general 
and vocational home economics; enlarged use of the 
project method; the development of unit courses. 
Through its part-time and evening schools, opportu¬ 
nities have been afforded to those much in need 
of instruction. 

6 Federal Board Vocational Education Bulletin No. 28, Home Economics 
Education, Organization and Administration. 

8 Ibid. t p. 12. 

12 



178 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 

The provision for teacher-training has led to 
some rather questionable short cuts in the prepara¬ 
tion of teachers. Authorities differ so greatly on the 
whole subject of vocational education that one seems 
justified only in the statement that probably the best 
results thus far are in stimulating a study of the 
whole subject of vocational education and voca¬ 
tional guidance. 

Another result of the Smith-Hughes Act, in so far 
as home economics is concerned, is in the line of legis¬ 
lation. Two provisions of the Act seem to discriminate 
against women: 1. The allotment of funds on the 
basis of urban population neglected the needs of the 
rural woman; 2. The fact that only so little as one- 
fifth of the money appropriated for industrial train¬ 
ing could be used for home economics. These two 
provisions have led to attempts by those interested to 
secure by legislation more money for home economics 
and on the basis of total population. The Fess, 
Smoot, and Purnell bills represent the efforts, as yet 
unsuccessful, which have been made to secure 
more funds for instruction and research in home 
economics. 

Reconstruction.—During the World War, home 
economics workers, as others, gave themselves 
unsparingly to a great variety of services at home and 
abroad. After the Armistice was signed, the work¬ 
ers returned to their regular activities to find several 
very evident results of the war. Internal progress 


HOME ECONOMICS SINCE 1912 


179 


/had stopped because the workers had been called 
from classroom and laboratory. Research had been 
abandoned. The workers were tired—very tired— 
but many of them had a new and larger vision of the 
possibilities of their cause, and so did the general 
public. One of the immediate results was the open¬ 
ing of new lines of effort for women. Dietitians were 
asked for by hotels as well as by hospitals; women 
trained in the study of the problems of the home were 
asked for by banks and other commercial enterprises 
to help in teaching thrift. The Children’s Bureau, 
the Red Cross, the Public Health Service—all called 
persistently for women trained in home economics. 
The economic results of the war on wool, cotton and 
building materials put emphasis on the question of 
clothing and furniture. Questions of all sorts and 
about processes and products of every kind cried 
aloud for research. The National Research Council 
gave home economics a place in its deliberations. 
This condition of affairs called for a critical exami¬ 
nation and a revaluation of the training to be offered 
in courses in home economics, and in common with 
the rest of the world, home economics soon found 
itself hard at work upon reconstruction. That is al¬ 
ways a difficult and delicate task, difficult because 
often it means the uprooting of cherished traditions 
and customs; delicate lest in an attempt to give new 
form to cherished ideals they be destroyed. “New 
occasions teach new duties; Time makes ancient 
good uncouth.” 


180 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 

The difficulties in this particular instance are 
increased by the fact that home economics has so 
many vulnerable points. In most occupations there 
are “honorable points of ignorance” for the layman; 
not so as regards home economics. No wayfarer on 
the highway of life but considers himself a competent 
critic of some one of its numerous phases. In the esti¬ 
mation of the public, real advance in home economics 
in war time was made chiefly along the lines of food, 
economics and research, and these lines must be con¬ 
sidered in all plans for readjustment of courses of 
training. The call for knowledge of many kinds em¬ 
phasized the need for research. The necessity of the 
situation put emphasis upon wise spending for both 
food and clothing, and showed the desirability of hav¬ 
ing the woman as the spender of the income made as 
intelligent as possible. The government undertook 
the teaching of thrift on a large scale. A group of 
three home economics workers was employed for sev¬ 
eral months by the Savings Division, Department of 
United States Treasury, to prepare educational leaf¬ 
lets on thrift. Moreover, to many women the war had 
brought participation in large enterprises requiring 
much executive ability. She had learned some les¬ 
sons in “big business” which she was glad to practice 
within her own domain. Her own sense of values 
was changed. The study of economic phases of home 
and family received a great impetus. The result of 
this impetus upon the teaching of home economics 
will be discussed in a later chapter. 


HOME ECONOMICS SINCE 1912 


181 


Meantime, the larger relationships of the subject 
must not be neglected. The public demands must be 
recognized. The tests many and varied are to be met, 
but the workers, themselves, must keep ever in mind 
the larger aspects of the question. Man does not live 
by bread alone; economics cannot do everything. 
Spirit and life have their sources, too, and must 
be cherished. 

Home economics workers must not be so much 
occupied in the details of teaching food, clothing and 
shelter, that they forget that health, art, and beauty 
of life are included in their programs; that the finer 
forms of social intercourse, the development of gra¬ 
cious womanhood, have their place in home economics 
training. The public still recognizes the family as 
the unit and the home as the center and wants all that 
was best in the old forms of family life represented in 
the new. It should be enriched by the discoveries of 
science, the development of art, the right economic 
and social ideas, and it must be permeated by the 
spirit of service and loyalty to the highest ideals. 

Whether women understand it or not, forces quite 
beyond their power are giving them a part in the eco¬ 
nomic and political life of the nation. Home eco¬ 
nomics workers need to hear and heed the command: 

“ Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the 
curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and 
strengthen thy stakes. ’ ’ 7 


7 Isaiah, LIV, v. 2. 




182 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 

The fifteenth annual meeting of the American 

Home Economics Association was held at Corvallis, 
Oregon, August 1-5, 1922. The president’s address 
by Miss Mary E. Sweeney has so much of history, 
statistics, and practical suggestions that it seems 
wise to reproduce it in large part: 

‘ ‘ Today, in accounting to you for my stewardship I begin to 
realize how little one can really do more than make a beginning 
in two years; how difficult it is to summarize those intangible 
things which are the indices pointing toward progress, develop¬ 
ment, and achievement. 

‘ ‘ After all, we need to remember that as an association we are 
only fourteen years old, merely in the adolescent period of our 
life; that for many years we were loosely organized, our purposes 
were vaguely defined, we lacked cohesion and large objectives; 
that in our state teachers’ colleges and in our state universities 
it has not been the unfailing custom to instill into those enter¬ 
ing the work, compelling professional motives, a code of profes¬ 
sional ethics, unified standards of professional life. 

“Our professional work has had to do with the home, which 
as an institution is traditional and conservative. Those within 
it have had only a half-hearted belief in homemaking as a profes¬ 
sion and in the functioning of science in everyday life. Homes 
are individual units; there are few ways of reaching them col¬ 
lectively. No outside forces connected with incomes unify their 
attitude, interest, and point of view, and get certain standards 
into their mass mind and consciousness. 

“To deal with such an institution, to study it, to serve it 
constructively, to interpret its social, economic, and moral re¬ 
sponsibility, to help it to function in civil life, to rehabilitate it 
when broken or disabled, has been difficult and at times tedious 
and soul-wearying, but immensely alluring, demanding high 
spirit and courage. 

‘ 1 The tremendous growth of home economics through its intro¬ 
duction into the curricula of elementary and secondary schools 
and universities, the development of home demonstration work, 


183 


HOME ECONOMICS SINCE 1912 

vocational education, continuation and evening schools, has cre¬ 
ated a demand for a large number of professionally trained peo¬ 
ple to build up adequate subject-matter, methods, and research. 
A remarkable impetus was given by the war. Subsequent de¬ 
mands have been made for participation in health pro¬ 
grams. Economic depression and need for readjustment 
and standards of buying in the home have tested home eco¬ 
nomics as a profession. 

“The problem always facing your executive committee and 
your council has been to develop a professional association which 
would stand for the ambitions, beliefs, ideals of the individual 
members, and to make the Association an instrument through 
which individuals might express themselves. 

****** 

“Perhaps nothing is a better index to the growth of the As¬ 
sociation than the extent and character of its affiliation with 
other organizations. We have been asked to have a representa¬ 
tive speak at national meetings of the General Federation of 
Women’s Clubs, the Pan-American Conference, and the League 
of Women Voters. We have been requested to assist in further¬ 
ing the programs of the Parent-Teachers’ Association, the Na¬ 
tional Congress of Mothers, the National Women’s Trade Union 
League, the Consumers’ League, the National Housing Associa¬ 
tion, the American Social Hygiene Association, the American 
Association of Social Workers, the Red Cross, the American 
Academy of Political and Social Science, the Canadian Child 
Conservation, and the International Eugenics Society. 

‘ ‘ While there is much to give us hope in the past there is much 
yet to be done, and it will take more fortitude,’more faith, more 
steadfastness, more courage, than did pioneering. All of us feel 
that the Association must reinterpret its objectives and develop 
a program of work. As a group we must broaden our contacts. 
The schoolroom needs business, business needs home economics 
women. All home economics work needs the homemaker, both 
the professional home economics woman in her home, and the 
untrained woman in her home. We need her to show us how 
much that we are teaching belongs in what is now tradition j we 


184 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 


need her to help ns to make our courses meet the needs of these 
electric-started, automotivated, radio-connected homes. She 
has a tremendous contribution to make to our theories of care 
and training of the modern child. The Association should capi¬ 
talize this tremendous asset of our 10 000 trained home economics 
women in homes of their own. They are to be the great force 
within our number which will recharge, revitalize our point of 
view, reinterpret to us our education for homemaking. ’ ’ 
****** 

“ Trained home economics women are demanded as teachers, 
extension workers, visiting housekeepers, dietitians, editors, 
social-service workers, and in other business positions. Coopera¬ 
tion has begun to be established with the nursing world, the 
medical world, the industrial world. Home economics work is 
beginning in Australia, Japan, China, South Africa, India, 
Turkey, New Zealand. This means that home economics is pre¬ 
paring for its duty and responsibility; that it glimpses its oppor¬ 
tunity ; visions its real service; understands the meaning of its 
mission to energize, vitalize, and spiritualize the everyday life 
of the everyday man and woman. ’ 78 

8 Journal of Home Economics, Vol. XIV, p. 519 ff. 



CHAPTER XYII 

THE TEACHING OF HOME ECONOMICS 

It seems worth while in this text to give an ac¬ 
count of the early work as it was taught in some 
schools—attempts which in most instances were short¬ 
lived, but which nevertheless mark the beginnings. 

Beginnings. —The story of the beginnings in 
North America, so far as available records can 
be found, are well given in an early Journal of 
Home Economics. 

“We open a quaint chapter of almost medieval history when 
we seek for the first dates in the formal teaching (outside of the 
family circle) of household arts. In 1668, Francois de Laval, the 
first bishop of Canada, according to Parkman in The Old Regime 
in Canada, founded near Quebec a kind of farm school for French 
and Indian boys, and here various mechanical trades were also 
taught. At the same time the Ursulines and the Nuns of the 
Congregation of Quebec undertook the training of girls along the 
lines of manual training and what is now grouped under the head 
of Home Economics. To quote Parkman, ‘We find the King 
giving to a sisterhood in Montreal a thousand francs to buy wool 
and a thousand more for teaching girls to knit.’ ” 1 

Attention has already been called to the work of 
Mrs. Willard, but the following quotation indicates 
the difficulties under which she worked: 

“Mr. Henry Fowler, in his article on Educational Services of 
Mrs. Emma Willard, says: ‘While thus Mrs. Willard was teach¬ 
ing what had heretofore been considered masculine studies, and 
thus risking the displeasure of those wealthy and fashionable 

1 Journal of Home Economics, Vol. Ill, p. 328. 

185 


0- 



186 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 

people, on whom, disappointed of public aid, she much depended 
for support, she was also testing her popularity by the steps she 
was taking to induct her pupils into the duties of their sex, in 
regard to housekeeping; as this might be charged with a degree of 
vulgarity. ’ In a footnote he adds: 

a 4 In general, when the graduates of the seminary develop 
into women of society and mistresses of families, they have been 
found imbued with the principles, and having acquired the habits 
which lead to good housekeeping. The pupils in their small 
rooms, each occupied by two inmates (carefully assorted, as one 
of the most delicate duties of the principal) are provided with 
closets, bureaus, etc., so that everything can be used for its proper 
purposes, and everything kept in its proper place. And they are 
under strict surveillance, as each in turn is to keep the room in 
perfect order. This is that their eye may become accustomed to 
order, so as, of itself to detect the reverse. They are required 
to keep in order their own clothing, and have a set time for mend¬ 
ing. They take their turns also with the domestic superintendent 
to learn pastry cooking. Each roommate is in turn roomkeeper 
for the week and liable to a fault-mark if the monitress, in her 
hourly rounds, during school hours, finds anything out of 
order . 9 ’ ’ 2 

Pastry cooking and the care of the room seem to 
be the high spots of that teaching. 

Mt. Holyoke Plan. —In view of the misinterpreta¬ 
tion of later years which has been given to “the Mt. 
Holyoke plan” it seems well to quote Mary Lyon’s 
own words: “ It is no part of the design of this semi¬ 
nary to teach young ladies domestic work.” This 
statement shows clearly that she had no thought of 
teaching domestic economy but rather that she used 
cooperative housekeeping as a means of self-support 
for girls while securing an education. 

2 Henry Barnard: American Journal of Education, Vol. VI, 1859 

pp. 125-168. (See Journal of Home Economics , Vol. Ill, pp. 329, 330.) 



THE TEACHING OF HOME ECONOMICS 187 


Monticello Female Seminary at Alton, Illinois, 
was called the Mt. Holyoke of the West. Each pupil 
was required to spend two hours per day in domestic 
employment. They were also taught laundry work 
under a competent instructor. 

Elmira College, Elmira, N. Y., seems to have 
started with ideas of doing some work for the home, 
as the first catalogue (1855) states that each student 
is 3 “required to take additional work in domestic 
science and general household affairs. ***** There 
is an arrangement by which domestic science will be 
taught to each pupil. The more severe parts of the 
work will be performed by domestics. A lady pecu¬ 
liarly fitted to give instruction in domestic science has 
been engaged and has under her direction the stu¬ 
dents who are drilled in all that pertains to domestic 
duties.’’ Lack of funds or sustained interest seems 
to have prevented this college from carrying out the 
plans because after ten years no trace remained. 

Vassar College, too, gave encouragement to the 
idea 4 in its first announcement, but evidently the con¬ 
servatives won in the struggle, for this statement ap¬ 
pears : “The trustees are satisfied that a full course 
in the arts of domestic economy cannot be success¬ 
fully incorporated in a system of liberal education.” 
After a few foolish words about “allowing a young 
lady to form habits unfitting her for her “allotted 


3 Journal of Home Economics, Vol. Ill, p. 330. 

4 See page 89, this text. 




188 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 


sphere’’ the following compromise plan is an¬ 
nounced : 5 

“ (1) Domestic economy is to be taught theoretically by text¬ 
books and lectures; (2) visible illustrations are to be furnished 
by the college kitchen, larder, dining room; (3) personal instruc¬ 
tion is to be given to everyone who needs it as to care of her 
clothing and room; (4) there will be regular hours for sewing / 9 

In three years this experiment was finished. 

In 1877 Lasell Seminary in Aubumdale, Massa¬ 
chusetts, offered courses in various phases of the 
work under such pioneers as Miss Daniell, Mrs. Lin¬ 
coln and Miss Parloa. Instruction in homemaking 
was safe in the hands of these women. 

Causes for Failure of First Attempts. —To one fa¬ 
miliar with the development of home economics sev¬ 
eral causes for the failure of the first attempts seem 
very clear. They lacked any adequate working basis; 
they failed as the Manual Labor Seminary failed 
because they were economically unsound, had no sci¬ 
entific basis, and no permanent educational value. 
Neither pious intentions nor fulsome oratory about 
the glories of motherhood nor rules for good house¬ 
keeping furnish an adequate working basis for a 
serious study of the home. There was too much con¬ 
versation about the “sphere of woman” as inter¬ 
preted by men fond of that kind of remarks, or too 
many plans by another class of men who are still 
found today—school principals who are interested 


6 Journal of Home Economics, Vol. Ill, p. 331. 



THE TEACHING OF HOME ECONOMICS 189 


in finding a cheap and convenient method of securing 
a supply of food for the schools and so “ put in ” 
domestic science. 

Not until both men and women recognized the 
numerous factors that enter into both education and 
homemaking could there be any reasonable hope of 
real accomplishment. Henderson says: “If one 
does not know where one wishes to go there is small 
chance of success in devising a plan for arriving.” 6 
Home economics could not be developed on an educa¬ 
tional or scientific basis until educated men and 
women gave themselves to a serious study of the prob¬ 
lems involved in such an undertaking. The results 
of those efforts culminated in the work of the land- 
grant colleges and of cooking schools of the 
decade from 1870-80, to which reference has already 
been made. 

The Teaching of Food.—The work in food has 
long been taught from two standpoints: (1) that of 
the cooking school, and (2) that of the scientist. The 
first put stress upon manipulation, and upon the per¬ 
fect finished products. Indeed, a common require¬ 
ment was a certain number of finished products with 
little attention to the questions why and how. The 
usual order of subject-matter was: Fire, Water, Bev¬ 
erages, Cereals, Vegetables, Batters and Dough, Fats 
and Animal Foods. 

Those who favored the applied science idea fol- 


«Henderson: The Larger Life , p. 136. 





190 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 


lowed in general the plan given by Helen Campbell, 
1896; 7 “1. Water; 2. Nitrogenous principles, called 
now, more often, proteids; 3. Hydrocarbons, or fats; 

4. Carbohydrates, as starch, sugar, gum; 5. Inor¬ 
ganic materials, salt, etc.” 

The chemistry of food was a rather popular idea 
with many teachers and the method of procedure in 
that case is represented by an early scheme given by 
Thomas Grant Allen of Armour Institute, Chicago, 
as follows: 8 

Typical Food Course,—The Chemistry of Foods * 
—Main Divisions Only. 

I. General Introduction. A. Change. B. Composition of sub¬ 
stances. C. Classification of chemical compounds. D. Oxidation. 

E. Reduction. 

II. Uses of Food and Classification of Food Principles. A. 
Uses of food in the body. B. Classification of food principles. 

III. The Chemistry of the Human Body. A. Composition of 
the body. B. The chemistry of digestion. 

IV. Incombustibles. A. Water. B. Mineral matters. 

V. Combustibles. A. Heat producers. B. Flesh formers or 
force producers. 

VI. Vegetable Foods. General Characters: A. Cereals. B. 
Legumes or pulse. C. Farinaceous foods. D. Tubers and roots. 

E. Fruits. F. Green vegetables. 

VII. Animal Foods. General Characters: A. Milk. B. Emrs. 

C. Flesh. 

VIII. Food Adjuncts. A. Beverages. B. Condiments. 

Course in Economics and Social Science.—Another 

point of view is presented by the more general course 
at Leland Stanford Junior University in 1896 under 


7 Campbell, Helen, Household Economics , p. 169. 

8 Ibid., p. 260 ff. 



THE TEACHING OF HOME ECONOMICS 191 


the leadership of Mrs. Mary Roberts Smith, 9 which 
included the following topics: 

A. Economic Function of the Housewife. 

B. Domestic Architecture. 1. Location, foundation, exterior 
plans (elevation). 2. Interiors: drawing simple house plans. 
3. Visiting houses, criticising plans. 4. Relations of rooms. 

C. Plumbing and Drainage. 1. Bacteria. 2. Principles of 
plumbing: pipes, closets, lavatories, baths, sinks. 3. Disinfection 
and pests. 

D. Ventilation. 

E. Heating: principles of combustion. 1. Stoves, fireplaces, 
steam, hot water. 2. Varieties and value of fuels. 

F. Lighting: lamps, gas, electricity. 

G. Artistic and economic furnishing. 

H. Food. 1. Chemistry of food. 2. Composition of food 
materials. 3. Chemistry of cookery. 4. Diet of students and 
children. 5. Adulteration. 6. Vegetarianism. 7. Beverages. 8. 
Cooking apparatus: range, gas, gasoline, Aladdin oven, elec¬ 
tricity. 9. Marketing and supplies. 

I. Domestic Labor. 1. Statistical, economic and sociological 
basis of domestic service. 2. Cooperative living. 3. Time work 
and piece work. 4. Doing one’s own work. 

J. Household Finance. 1. Accounts, bills, receipts. 

Evolution of Present Ideals.—The idea of food 
principles soon took firm hold, aided, doubtless, 
by the wide publicity given to the “Lomb Prize 
Essay,” 1888, by Mrs. Mary Hinman Abel, entitled, 
“Practical, Sanitary and Economic Cooking Adapted 
to Persons of Moderate and Small Means—The Five 
Food Principles, Illustrated by Practical Recipes— 
Published by American Health Association.” 

Even a casual reader of that title-page cannot fail 


I bid., introduction, p. xviii. 



192 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 

to see to what an unnumbered host it would appeal. 
—“ Practical/’ “ economic,” “ moderate means ”— 
what words to conjure with as regards the universal 
demand for food! But the real climax is in the 
inscription: Five Food Principles, Illustrated by 
Practical Recipes. Here are the contending forces 
united to illustrate each other! The woman who 
scorned principles and science but who rested secure 
in the knowledge that she could “get up a good meal” 
would look to see if her favorite recipe was there. 
The scientific woman, not being “strong on recipes,” 
would rejoice in “one more good recipe that illus¬ 
trated something.” 

As a matter of fact, real progress has been made 
by the recipe woman finding out that it was not too 
much sugar but too much heat that made her custard 
curdle and the scientific woman learning that in many 
processes, biscuit and pastry for example, manipula¬ 
tion is very important. Thus the journey in the 
development of methods of teaching has been made by 
slow but sure steps from the type dishes, illustrating 
types of food and principles of cooking—proteins, 
fats and carbohydrates—to the present meal basis 
with all types of foods represented. 

The writer cannot forbear giving some personal 
experiences in this connection. In collecting ideas 
for the development of her own work a score of years 
ago, many types of schools were visited and the few 
catalogues available carefully studied. “Cooking” 


THE TEACHING OF HOME ECONOMICS 193 


and “advanced cooking” seemed to be the terms most 
used in describing the work in food, and tbe reader 
was impressed with tbe fact that in almost every case 
salads, which she had always associated with raw 
foods, always appeared under advanced cooking. It 
appeared to the novice in catalogue material of that 
type that “preparation” might be a better word; and 
that, following the old adage—Catch your hare 
before you cook it—“ selection ” might be used to 
indicate the starting-point; so “ selection,” “ prep¬ 
aration ” and “use ” were put with some satisfac¬ 
tion into the copy to describe the different aspects of 
the food instruction. 

Imagine her surprise when an irate superintend¬ 
ent arrived and protested vigorously against the ar¬ 
rangement and brought his criticism to a climax with 
the statement, “Do you know you have not used the 
word cooking once in that copy?” “Yes, cooking is 
not used because it is inadequate. Some food you 
freeze; some you dry; some you wash and eat raw; 
some you cook. I want liberty to use any process. ’ ’ 

In contrast to this was an experience at a meeting 
of the State Federation of Women’s Clubs, when one 
woman made three attempts before she finally got out 
the question: “Do you, do you, do you really cook in 
the University?” The reply: “Yes, whenever we 
want to, or need to,” seemed to bring mingled relief 
and surprise. 

But the writer treasures as perhaps her choicest 
bit the following explanation of the doctrine of inter- 

13 


194 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 

est. In collecting ideas in a city of the Middle West, 
she came upon a class in “ cooking.” The hour was 
about over; the recipe for soft custard was upon the 
board. She sought from the teacher, a nice, bright- 
looking young woman, information as to the basis 
of her work. Evidently, the question was not under¬ 
stood. After varied and repeated attempts to secure 
the desired information, the teacher produced a 
pamphlet with this remark: “ We don’t all use the 
same order, but all the recipes we use are in this 
pamphlet.” The visitor clutched at that word 
“ order.” “ Would you mind telling me what order 
you use? ” “ Now, I’ll tell you, I give them pota¬ 
toes first and we work with them awhile, but they 
don’t care much about them; and then I give 
them chocolate and that leads naturally to 
creamed cabbage and creamed soups.” The visitor 
fairly gasped. Out of all the strange things that had 
been said to her in her quest of ideas, this sounded 
most wonderful. She repeated to herself,‘ 4 Chocolate 
leads naturally to creamed cabbage,” and then 
tried again. “ Will you tell me why you began with 
potatoes?” “ They ’re cheap and they know them.” 
“And why do you take chocolate next?” “It’s 
this way: they don’t care much about potatoes, 
but they like chocolate, they drink it, and that rouses 
their interest”! The chapter closed; the visitor 
could not tax her imagination further, and so has 
never understood how chocolate leads naturally to 
creamed cabbage. Perhaps the mental testers will 
find out! 


THE TEACHING OF HOME ECONOMICS 195 


The Teaching of Dietetics. -The teaching of die¬ 
tetics has had a rocky road to travel because of the 
food cults, the vegetarians, the advocates of raw 
foods, and the other unnamed and unnumbered fads 
that are always with us, and because of the well-nigh 
universal assumption that appetite is the one infal¬ 
lible guide in the selection of diet. Here, too, the 
adage “ a little learning is a dangerous thing” has 
been demonstrated many times. Nor was there 
in earlier years any general agreement as to the 
quantity of food needed. One company of doc¬ 
tors regarded overeating as the prevailing dietetic 
sin of the century; another, though smaller group, 
were equally certain that the vast majority of people 
were underfed. “One man preached the gospel of 
dignified simplicity on one meal a day and one clean 
collar a week, while the lean and learned Fletcher 
declared that if we only kept on masticating our one 
mouthful of food long enough, we would delude the 
stomach into magnifying it tenfold and could dine 
sumptuously on a menu card and a wafer biscuit.” 

Professor Atwater was the man who first led the 
home economics teacher out of the chaos of cults and 
fads, by his bulletin on the “Chemistry and Economy 
of Food.” Through the dietary studies made in va¬ 
rious parts of the United States, he collected a vast 
amount of information about the living habits of all 
classes of people. He and his expert assistants tabu¬ 
lated and interpreted these findings and thus fur¬ 
nished a scientific basis for the study of diet. This 


0 


196 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 


basis was the chemical composition of food. The 
work in the calorimeter gave a definiteness to the sub¬ 
ject of energy in relation to food. Calories came to 
have a real meaning as the measuring unit of the en¬ 
ergy of the daily diet. Consequently, emphasis was 
placed in teaching upon chemical composition and 
nutritive value, the calculation of the calorific value 
of foods, and of dietaries. There was much talk about 
the balanced meal, the influence of age, sex, and oc¬ 
cupation, as well as cost based on nutritive value. 
Tables of “equivalents in nutritive values,” “what 
ten cents will buy,” and food charts showing chemical 
composition of food materials were widely used. This 
was followed by a study of the individual food princi¬ 
ples. The resulting theories of high and low protein 
diets and their advocates came as the next contribu¬ 
tion of the scientists to the teaching of dietetics. 

As research work progressed in many laborato¬ 
ries, the discovery of the importance of the mineral 
content of the diet; the work of the glands and their 
secretions; the operations of the noble army of 
enzymes; the number and variety of amino acids; the 
presence of hormones and vitamines greatly enlarged 
the scientific conception of the processes of nutrition, 
and added the words “vitamine content” to the fac¬ 
tors used in judging the value of a diet. The teachers 
of home economics are almost dazed by the ever- 
increasing addition to subject-matter for the teaching 
of dietetics. Meantime, the emphasis upon the five 
food principles disappeared just as the scaffolding is 


THE TEACHING OF HOME ECONOMICS 197 


removed when the building nears completion or, per¬ 
haps, as one movie picture fades into another. 

Dr. Henry C. Sherman led the way in a change of 
name from food principles to foodstuffs and also in 
placing emphasis upon the mineral content of the 
diet. The teacher’s vocabulary changed so as to 
restrict the use of the word principles largely to the 
processes of preparation of the classes of food— 
meats, starches, vegetables. Instead of emphasis 
upon the single-type dish, the larger unit—the meal— 
was introduced as a basis. The basic ideas were still 
a necessary part of the structure. The discovery of 
vitamines did not lessen the importance of calories. 
It just added more building material to the structure, 
more need for discrimination and selection in the 
subject-matter to be taught. 

This “newer knowledge of nutrition” opened up 
a whole new field of effort for the teacher of home eco¬ 
nomics and constituted in large part the basis for the 
addition of courses in food and nutrition, child feed¬ 
ing, special diets, and courses for dietitians. More¬ 
over, it has sent many women to do graduate work in 
nutrition under the leadership of Sherman at Colum¬ 
bia, Mendel at Yale, and McCollum at Wisconsin 
and later at Johns Hopkins. These leaders in re¬ 
search have contributed much knowledge to the scien¬ 
tific development of home economics. 

The Teaching of Clothing. —From convent days 
the beautiful needlework of the nuns, as shown in the 
altar-cloths, has been associated with the artistic 


198 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 

instincts. In all ages, the teaching of sewing has 
appealed to the general public as meeting a real need 
as well as serving in many instances to satisfy a crav¬ 
ing for beauty. In many cases, as has been noted, 
sewing has been the first phase of home economics to 
be put into the public schools. 

The setting of stitches, the making of models, the 
drafting of patterns, the use of commercial patterns, 
the making of dress forms, modeling on forms, the 
study of textile fibers and of fabrics, the chemistry of 
textiles and their manufacture, drawing, study of de¬ 
sign—all these mark not only the steps of progress in 
the development of the subject-matter now included 
in the term “ clothing and textiles,” but also are 
indicative of the enlarged conception and the growing 
appreciation of the educational, artistic and eco¬ 
nomic values of the subject. 

Instead of the statement in the catalogue that “a 
suit of underwear is sewed and a wool skirt is made,” 
one finds “the construction and cost of clothing, the 
application of line, form and color in the making of 
garments for individual needs adapted to different 
occasions.” Some teachers begin with a study of the 
fibers which enter into cloth, and the hygienic, artis¬ 
tic and wearing qualities of various kinds of fabrics 
used in the home or for personal needs. Again, one 
finds very general recognition of the need for basic 
work in art, that the student may understand how to 
express individuality in dress or house furnishing 
through form, line and color. The purpose of cloth- 


THE TEACHING OF HOME ECONOMICS 199 


ing, its relation to body needs, its moral, social and 
economic values, are given a place in any intelligent 
investigation of the subject. 

Costume design and history have opened a rich 
field of historical study in customs and costumes of 
other times, and thus knowledge, appreciation and 
culture are acquired. The chemistry of dyes, mor¬ 
dants and adulterations offers a wide field for 
research. A study of clothing budgets puts emphasis 
upon wise selection of materials, introduces directly 
the oft-discussed advantages and disadvantages of 
the ready-made and home-made garment, teaches dis¬ 
crimination, not only in buying clothing but also in 
the proportionate spending of the income. Standard¬ 
ization of clothing and legislation affecting it are in¬ 
cluded in the development of the subject-matter. 

Valuable information concerning the develop¬ 
ment and present trend in the teaching of clothing 
and textiles is given in a report of a study made by a 
critical examination of forty-three text-books deal¬ 
ing with the subject. The author of the report sum¬ 
marizes the results as follows: 

The subjects which have received major emphasis in the 
clothing field are, (1) sewing processes, (2) garment construc¬ 
tion, (3) pattern and drafting, and (4) the care of clothing; in 
the textile field. (1) textile fibers, (2) fabrics and their uses, 
and (3) textile manufacture. * # * The space allotted to sew¬ 
ing processes has declined while that devoted to garment con¬ 
struction has increased. * # # The use of commercial patterns 
is coming to be an important subject. * * * The economics of 
clothing and buying * * is increasing in amount. 10 

10 Journal of Home Economics, Vol. XIV, p. 631. 




200 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 

The teaching of clothing construction holds a 
seemingly permanent place in the curriculum since 
home women continue to sew as a means of increasing 
family income and, in many cases, as an art that 
is enjoyed. 

For very many girls and women, a study of cloth¬ 
ing has been their first lesson in proportion, rhythm, 
color and harmony, and as a result, an introduction 
to one field of art and the consequent enrichment 
of life. 

The Teaching of Shelter and Household Manage¬ 
ment.—In the early work, shelter and household man¬ 
agement were more or less combined in courses on 
construction of the sanitary house and on house 
planning, decoration and care. As the social and eco¬ 
nomic aspects of the whole housing question devel¬ 
oped, new courses were added to the curriculum and 
divisions of the subject-matter as stated in the Sylla¬ 
bus came to be the general practice. 

Shelter.—The subject-matter of shelter is still 
given largely through courses in house planning, in 
economic housing* and in construction of the sanitary 
house. The study of shelter is of unusual signifi¬ 
cance because it affords so many avenues of approach 
to the group of subjects taught under home econom¬ 
ics. Art, architecture, social and family relationships, 
are given a concrete setting in the study of the house 
and the home. This division of the subject affords 
not only the best opportunity for introducing some of 
the more intangible elements which contribute so 


THE TEACHING OF HOME ECONOMICS 201 


much to the well-ordered home, but also enables the 
student to see the relationship of the parts to the real 
goal of training—the improvement and beautifying 
of home life. 

Household Management.—One of the early devel¬ 
opments in household management was the use of 
a house as a laboratory in which to study the 
problems of house furnishing; the economic use 
of fuels in cooking, their comparative cost, advan¬ 
tages and disadvantages. The first of these houses 
was started at the University of Illinois in 1908, al¬ 
though Catharine Beecher had outlined the idea in 
1852. That study was a remodeling of an old house 
by changing the position of the windows in one room 
and the doors in another, to make the house more con¬ 
venient and livable. Then the problems, as stated 
above, were worked out, as were also the cost and use 
of various kinds of equipment. The next step in this 
phase of the development was a “practice house ’ 9 
where students and faculty lived and worked and so 
learned some of the real problems of managing a 
house: the value of different types of equipment; the 
importance of a time schedule; economic buying and 
use of food; and acquired a better appreciation of 
the meaning of the term “care of the house.” 

The growing recognition of the importance of the 
child added another feature to the practice house and 
so made it more representative of home and family 
life. The physical care of the child—its food, its 
rest, its play—was the phase first developed, but the 


202 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 

intellectual and social aspects soon came to be an in¬ 
tegral part of the work as shown by courses on the 
psychology of the child. Child care is still taught and 
with it the innumerable lessons, social and spiritual, 
that are bound up with child life. In many cases a 
baby is brought into the membership of the practice 
house family. 

After all the multiplication of activities and 
courses, home economics workers still emphasize the 
words “home” and “child” and are giving their best 
efforts to the development and wise care of both. 

Institutional Management.—The practice house 
and, its problems led to a study of the problems of the 
larger group, the institution. The subject-matter 
for this phase is found in courses for lunch-room 
managers, problems of the institutional household, 
economics of the family budgets. These so-called prac¬ 
tical courses on the house and the home have opened a 
comparatively new field, or at least an unworked field, 
in the development of the study of the home, both 
domestic and institutional, and have emphasized the 
necessity for the spender of the income, the head of 
the house, to understand the economic and social 
aspects of her task. To meet this need, one finds 
courses on economics and sociology of family life and 
the psychology of the home. 

Revision of Subject-Matter.—This review of the 
development of the subject-matter of home eco¬ 
nomics shows that many factors must have 
consideration in plans for teaching it if pres- 


THE TEACHING OF HOME ECONOMICS 


203 


ent-day needs are to be met. Some of these 
factors are: careful discrimination in values between 
essentials and non-essentials; the ever-increasing em¬ 
phasis upon the cost of living; the discussion of the 
waste of time in the laboratory; the influence of 
vocational education; the importance of food to 
health; the desire to find short cuts; the attempt to 
analyze homemaking. All these factors have led to 
much questioning as to subject-matter and a conse¬ 
quent revision of it. Moreover, the development of 
“big business,” the large economic issues of the day, 
are influencing the practices of both school and home, 
and the training in both. Courses of training of any 
kind by which one may earn money are in great de¬ 
mand. The girl in school feels this pressure early 
and seeks some means of increasing her allowance or 
it may be of assuming entire financial responsibility 
for herself. As a result, we find in some high schools 
that five times as many girls take clothing courses as 
take food work because they can save money if they 
can be their own dressmakers and milliners. The im¬ 
mediate need is so pressing that a long look ahead is 
very difficult for many. 

How can the boy or girl be expected to understand 
that it has taken long years of investigation to estab¬ 
lish the facts concerning the processes of nutrition 
now taught in the elementary health classes; to know 
that unless research is carried on constantly there 
will be no science or art to apply ? The demands for 
short cuts are very insistent. A scholarly study of 


204 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 

present-day problems, or at least the application of 
the results of such studies to the problems of the 
home, in many places, seems quite apart from the 
present trend. Because of the belief that home eco¬ 
nomics will never accomplish, either for the home or 
the individuals in it, what it could—will even lose its 
place as a factor in higher education unless it holds to 
and emphasizes broad foundations in science, art, 
economics, history and literature—the author feels 
constrained to ask for a careful consideration of the 
whole content of home economics in the hope that—1, 
a clearer distinction may be established between what 
constitutes high school and college work; 2, that a 
better proportion may be established among the divi¬ 
sions as given in the Syllabus; 3, that art, economics 
and social aspects may receive more emphasis; and 
4, that research in all lines may be promoted. 

Presentation.—The presentation of the subject- 
matter needs revision as well as the content of the 
courses. Fortunately, home economics has the bene¬ 
fit of many associates in this line of endeavor. In 
common with other subjects of the curriculum, home 
economics has been assailed by the project method; 
by the socialization idea; by unit courses; by “tests” 
for reasoning, for skills, for appreciation, for infor¬ 
mation. 

There has been much talk about objectives, ulti- 
mates, specifics and activities. The attack has been 
perplexing, but interesting, and it seems probable 
that out of this orgy of curriculum-making and test- 


THE TEACHING OF HOME ECONOMICS 205 

ing that is now going on, home economics will emerge 
with clearer and better distinctions of subject-matter 
and aim. The inherent value of the subject itself 
keeps it close to real needs and so prevents much 
wandering oft on tangents. 

Program of Work.—The author claims no expert 
knowledge on the difficult process of adjusting the 
numerous courses into a smooth-working program. 
However, she does want to call attention to two 
outstanding mistakes. Superintendents and princi¬ 
pals still expect the teacher of home economics to 
welcome to a single class representatives from every 
one of the four years of the high school. Nothing of 
that kind would be expected for a moment of the 
teacher of mathematics. Again, cooking processes 
often require time. To be of value, the work must be 
done with attention to the why and wherefore of each 
step, not with the one aim of getting through, valua¬ 
ble as speed sometimes is. Therefore, the one-hour 
period for food work is not desirable. 

Equipment.—A word may be said in passing about 
equipment. Here the pendulum has swung from one 
extreme to the other. One great claim made for the 
hollow square in the early days was that the teacher 
could see all that was going on. Now, advocates of 
the unit kitchen explain the advantages of working 
privately. One other fallacy is the attempt to have 
“home conditions.” The question arises —whose 
home? However, there is a quite general agreement 
as to the essential elements in a good school kitchen, 


206 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 


even if some blind leaders of the blind are aspiring to 
mahogany table-tops, tiled floors and immense kitch¬ 
ens, while others would solve all the difficulties by a 
unit kitchen. Because of many varying conditions, the 
consensus of opinion seems to be that there are several 
possible good types. Unit kitchens have their place, 
even if in some cases they result in a stove which is 
little more than the discarded hot plate, and the oven 
very little better than the one used with the hot plate. 
One good range, with a well-constructed and well- 
lined oven and an accurate means of measuring tem¬ 
perature, stands for much more real advance in the 
science of cookery. A note of warning is to be 
sounded against equipment which wastes space and 
money. The kitchen is not needed for an endurance 
test in walking. Home economics kitchens and sew¬ 
ing rooms are to be judged, as other laboratories, by 
their adaptation to class needs, and to equipment for 
accurate work. 


CHAPTER XVIII 
EXTENSION WORK 

Introduction and Source.—Extension work in 
home economics has many intellectual forbears. The 
idea of University Extension is accredited to Stewart 
of the University of Cambridge, England. In 1866, 
extension courses were offered in Cambridge with the 
idea of affording a wider opportunity for university 
teaching. The requirements were the same as for 
university work. In 1890 the idea was transplanted 
to the United States, and the American Society for 
Extension of University Teaching was organized in 
Philadelphia. The University of Chicago in its early 
organization gave a good deal of attention to this 
phase of instruction. In the original plans, a sylla¬ 
bus of the course was provided, examinations were 
conducted, and university standards maintained. 
Correspondence schools were another phase of the 
development of the training for adults. 

Factors in Development.—Farmers’ organiza¬ 
tions, institutes and granges conceived the idea of 
using this method for teaching adults without mak¬ 
ing any scholarship requirement. Professors from 
the college of agriculture were asked to speak at 
Farmers’ Institutes, first, on popular subjects, but 
finally, on the scientific explanation of various phases 

207 


208 THE DEVELOPMENT OE HOME ECONOMICS 


of crop rotation, animal feeding, breeding, dairy 
products, and similar subjects. 

In the evolution of improvement in rural condi¬ 
tions some attention was given to the woman’s part 
and a Woman’s Day was added to the Farmers’ In¬ 
stitute program. Finally, in some states, there was 
organized a Household Science Department of the 
Farmers’ Institute, as in Illinois, and in New 
York state. 

The reading course for farmers’ wives, con¬ 
ducted for many years by Miss Van Rensselaer at 
Ithaca, N. Y., was perhaps the first organized attempt 
to meet the needs of the woman in the farm home. 

The early work in extension took many different 
forms. In Florida, for example, an abandoned one- 
room schoolhouse, eight miles from a railroad, was 
taken, repaired, and refitted to serve as a com¬ 
munity center. 

North Carolina in 1906 started work with fruit, 
vegetables, poultry, and butter making. Ohio worked 
by sending home economics representatives to the 
rural and normal schools to teach the teachers. Den¬ 
ton, Texas, reported a school for training boarding¬ 
house keepers who regularly receive students in their 
homes. Iowa conducted a correspondence course 
for rural and grade school teachers. Wisconsin was 
strong in University Extension work and developed 
its work for women through its Homemakers’ Con¬ 
ference. Illinois, in addition to its work with the 
farmers’ institutes, made a syllabus for the work in 


EXTENSION WORK 


209 


the high schools, and sent representatives to both the 
teachers’ and the farmers’ institutes. Colorado did 
some of its first work through study clubs. 

Anna Barrows, one of the pioneers in the work in 
New England, in an article in the Journal of Home 
Economics for 1913, is authority for the statement 
that in 1908 few states had Extension Departments in 
connection with the Agricultural College, and that in 
1913 over thirty were listed. In 1922 a department 
of extension was considered an essential part of all 
the land-grant colleges. 

Movable schools conducted by representatives of 
the college in both agriculture and home economics, 
were a popular form of early extension teaching. Ex¬ 
hibition trains or cars were sometimes used. All of 
this work served a very useful purpose not only in 
helping the housewife, but also in bringing to the 
attention of all classes the importance of the study of 
the home. 

Development of Extension in the South.-In 

many instances it can be shown that the by-products 
have been of more value than the original efforts. In 
some senses this seems true of extension work in the 
South. There Agricultural Extension came as a by¬ 
product of the work of the General Education Board 
and the United States, Department of Agriculture in 
an attempt to stamp out the boll weevil. The imme¬ 
diate agent for connection with the home was the 
girls’ canning clubs. Seaman Knapp, the inspiring 
leader in the movement for the South, chose the gar- 

14 


,o 


210 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 


den as a method of approach to the home. The pass¬ 
ing years have justified his choice. The work m the 
South, from its inception, put more emphasis upon 
the commercial and economic phases than did that in 
the North. The reason for this emphasis has been 
given as follows by Bradford Knapp and Miss Mary 
Cresswell: 

“The home demonstration work for women and girls, which 
is the complement of the farm demonstration work con¬ 
ducted by the men county agents, is now being carried on exten¬ 
sively throughout the South. This work began in 1910 with 
girls’ canning clubs, and led by gradual and logical steps into the 
present very broad and comprehensive work with both individ¬ 
uals and groups. In the fall of 1916 home demonstration work 
was in progress in 420 counties in the Southern States. The 
principal feature of the work is the lessons being taught by actual 
demonstrations in and around the home by the women and girls 
under the instruction of the women county agents. 

“One of the objects of the work is to develop a skill that 
shall result in economic independence of girls and women in the 
country. Their home has many functions not performed by the 
city home. It is a producing as well as a consuming center. Its 
contribution to the income of the farmer, especially in saving the 
waste and expense of conducting farming operations, often meas¬ 
ures the difference between profitable farming and unprofitable 
farming. The skill and business ability of farm housewives and 
children are a notable contribution to the economic resources of 
the farm. In many cases incomes must be increased before 
standards of living can be raised or progressive community en¬ 
terprises fostered. Proceeding upon this basis, the work in the 
South has added materially to the wealth, health, and happiness 
of country people.” 1 

Beginnings of Extension in the North and West. 

—As has been noted before, the approach in the North 
and West was through the farmers ’ institutes, the 


1 Yearbook; Department of Agriculture for 1916, p. 251. 



EXTENSION WORK 


211 


housekeepers’ conferences, and the movable schools 
which dealt with the scientific phases of food, house¬ 
hold equipment and management, with the purpose of 
improving the life in the farm home as a whole rather 
than aiding the woman to make money through rais¬ 
ing poultry or the growing of fruits and vegetables. 

Smith-Lever Act. —The passage of the Smith- 
Lever Act in 1914 and the resulting organization at 
Washington, with extension work as a definite 
division of the States Kelations Service, is responsi¬ 
ble for the better organization of extension work 
throughout the United States. Under this act, the 
agricultural colleges and the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture were made responsible for cooperatively carry¬ 
ing on extension work. In 1915, Bradford Knapp 
was put in charge of extension work for the fifteen 
southern states and C. B. Smith for the thirty-three 
northern and western states. In 1916, Miss Florence 
Ward was appointed as leader in home economics for 
the thirty-three northern and western states. The 
formal beginnings of the new movement in these 
states are given by her as follows: 

“The work actually began in Erie County, New York, in 
August, 1914, when Miss Mills was appointed home demonstra¬ 
tion agent on state funds. 

“The second appointment was that of Miss Gertrude M. 
McCheyne, who began work in Box Elder County, Utah, May 1, 
1915. Other agents appointed on state funds were Miss Minnie 
Price, who began work in Hampden County, Massachusetts, in 
July, 1915, and Miss Eva Benefiel, who was appointed on Federal 
and" State funds in Kankakee County, Illinois, in August of the 
same year.” 2 _ 

2 Department Circular 1^1, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



212 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 


These women seem to have been the first in that 
long procession of women home advisers, numbering 
1026 in 1923, who have wrought so worthily with such 
steadfast courage and unselfish devotion in the cause 
of home betterment. 

The Emergency Act. —As has been said, the War 
put heavy responsibility upon all phases of home eco¬ 
nomics, but particularly upon the extension phases. 
In his report for 1917, the Secretary of Agriculture 
says: 

‘ 4 An appropriation of $4,348,400 was made by the Food Pro¬ 
duction Act for the further development of the Extension Ser¬ 
vice. By the end of October more than 1600 emergency 
demonstration agents, men and women, had been appointed. 

“About 1,300 state, district, county, and urban women home- 
demonstration agents are now at work (1917). Of the 600 
women now employed as emergency agents under the Food Pro¬ 
duction Act, 500 are working in counties, principally among 
farm women, and 100 have been assigned exclusively to urban 
communities. ’* 3 

Adjustments. —The war experience was a great 
educational experiment not only for the people gen¬ 
erally but also for both the trained and untrained 
worker in home economics. In some ways, recon¬ 
struction days were more difficult for the extension 
worker than for those in the regular lines of work. 
The lack of the compelling motive, supplied by the 
war, and the reduction of federal funds resulted in a 
great reduction in the number of workers, and the 
consequent readjustment of the whole plan of home 


8 Yearbook, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 1917, p. 21. 



EXTENSION WORK 


213 


economics extension work. The war experience em¬ 
phasized the fact that extension work in home eco¬ 
nomics is no child’s play. It is one of the world’s 
great tasks which requires unusual personal gifts, 
wide knowledge, infinite tact, much physical endur¬ 
ance, efficient organization, large funds. As a result, 
many “misfits” moved on to other fields. The qual¬ 
ity of the work was improved. The requirements for 
leadership were strengthened. It became very evi¬ 
dent that the training afforded by a four-year college 
course and five years’ actual home experience was 
none too much for building a permanent organiza¬ 
tion and giving real service. The general public 
learned that home economics had much to contribute 
to community life. With the withdrawal of the fed¬ 
eral funds, the work in the cities was given up by the 
Government, but its value had been so thoroughly 
demonstrated that private, philanthropic and social 
service agencies sought to maintain certain features 
of it and so greatly increased the demand for trained 
home economics workers. 

Progress in the conception of the undertaking 
was evidenced not only by a demand for better 
trained leaders but also by a recasting of the subject- 
matter, and an entire change in the method of presen¬ 
tation and general plan of work. Instead of the one 
woman of institute days who spoke on many subjects, 
one now finds in extension work an organized group 
of trained women: a state leader, assistant state lead¬ 
ers, specialists, county agents, and local leaders. 


214 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 


The county agent studies the needs of her county, 
finds and trains local leaders. Specialists, represent¬ 
ing the various lines of work—food, clothing, child 
care, house furnishings—provide the outlines for 
group study, and devise ways and means of getting 
the latest information to the various groups. The 
state leaders, working in cooperation with the direc¬ 
tor of extension, study the best methods of develop¬ 
ing the work as a whole. A better appreciation of the 
magnitude of the undertaking is gained when one 
knows that in the year beginning July 1, 1921, the 
extension work in agriculture and home economics in 
the states was maintained at a cost of $18,500,000. 4 

The junior work, or that conducted among girls 
in sewing clubs and canning clubs, constitutes an 
important part of the whole scheme of work 
for women. 

A new basis of organization of extension work was 
announced October 1,1921, to the effect that the divi¬ 
sions known as North, West, and South would be 
combined in the Office of Extension Work. Dr. C. B. 
Smith was appointed in charge. 5 In the new basis, 
it was announced that 

“ The entire family is regarded as the unit rather than the 
previous conception of division of extension work for the farmer, 
his wife, and his children.” 

Some unpublished data secured from Dr. C. B. 
Smith in October, 1923, classifies the extension work- 

4 Bulletin, 1923, Department of Agriculture, p. 28, Education and 
Research in Agriculture and Home Economics in the United States. 

8 Experiment Station Record , Vol. XLV, pp. 500, 709. 




EXTENSION WORK 


215 


ers as follows: i 6 State leaders in Home Demonstra¬ 
tion, 43; assistant state leaders, 68; county agents, 
803; assistant county agents, 15; specialists, 128; to¬ 
tal number white women in home demonstration, 957; 
colored women, 105. ’ ’ Surely, it means much for the 
development of the home to have more than a thou¬ 
sand trained leaders giving their best energies to 
this rural extension work. 

Difficulties. —The difficulties in the development 
of home economics extension work may be grouped 
under three heads: (1) lack of organization; (2) 
shortage of funds; (3) need for more trained leaders. 
It is sometimes forgotten that women have had far 
less experience in educational leadership and organi¬ 
zation than men. Though women exceed in number in 
the teaching profession, the policies of the profession 
have for years been determined by men. Farm 
women in general have had far less experience in or¬ 
ganization than urban women, who have had years of 
training through the Federation of Women’s Clubs. 
Add to that, woman’s reticence about her home and 
her timidity as regards leadership, and one has the 
elements of one great factor in the slow development 
of the farm women’s organization. 

Shortage of Funds. —As to funds, there is a very 
old-time situation. The men still control to a large 
degree both the family and the national pocketbook. 
In organizations, as in families, much depends 
upon the type of man in authority. “A dinner of 
herbs and peace therewith” is still preferred by most 


216 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 

women to the militant measures necessary, in many 
cases, to secure anything like a fair division of funds 
for extension work. Farm women appreciate the 
value of agriculture and its part in the nation's life. 
They have no quarrel with the method of procedure 
that placed men county agents as rapidly as possible, 
but they feel that the “woman’s turn” must be arriv¬ 
ing; and that until it does come neither farm nor 
home demonstration work can make its best contri¬ 
bution to the nation’s life. 

Leaders. —Home Economics Extension, like the 
rest of the world, is seeking for more and better 
trained leaders. Every new enterprise must meet 
the difficulties of the sifting and sorting processes. 
Because of the breadth and variety of interests repre¬ 
sented in home economics the difficulties of well- 
trained leadership are enhanced. Moreover, the 
physical demands for strength and endurance keep 
many women from the extension field. 

Summary.— Home Economics Extension as an 
organized effort is not yet ten years old. Its impor¬ 
tance to the farm woman can hardly be overesti¬ 
mated. For years she had little voice in the real 
problems of her life. By some she was regarded as 
an object of compassion, by others as a marvel of 
endurance. Would-be reformers, ignorant of real 
conditions, found in country life a fertile field for ill- 
conceived uplift measures which were bound to fail. 
The Smith-Lever Act has shown that what the farm 
woman needed was “her chance”—an outlet for all 


EXTENSION WORK 


217 


her energy, initiative, experience, and that, given her 
chance, she could do for herself what no one could do 
for her. Quite aside from and greater than all the 
material benefits in the way of better clothing and 
feeding of the family, and more home conveniences, 
has been the development of the farm woman herself, 
so that she sees her place and work in her own home, 
and her opportunities for service to her community. 
She recognizes the tools of her life, learns how to use 
them. Her mental and social gifts, her moral per¬ 
ceptions, and her skill have been stimulated by the 
team work of the county organization. 

The home adviser has pointed the way to better 
living, opened other fields of interest, and developed 
leadership until the farm woman has come into her 
own and the Home Bureau is an organization of 
power and influence. It seems probable that through 
this agency the economic value of women in the home 
and on the farm may be recognized so that a real 
partnership and comradeship may be established in 
the farm home. 

Martin says: 

4 ‘ This therefore is a new and wonderful contribution to edu¬ 
cation and civilization which has been made by American women 
in the early years of the twentieth century.” 6 


8 0. B. Martin: The Demonstration Work, p. 158. 



CHAPTEE XIX 

NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN HOME ECONOMICS 

The proof of continued interest by the Govern¬ 
ment in the subjects of extension and home economics 
is shown by the following statement taken from the 
Experiment Station Record : 1 

“The chief innovation carried by the new appropriation act 
is a reorganization of some of the Department’s activities relat¬ 
ing to extension, experiment stations, publications, and home 
economies. Under this reorganization the States Relations Ser¬ 
vice, established in 1915 to represent the Department in its rela¬ 
tions with the states, and the Division of Publications, one of the 
oldest branches of the Department, will be discontinued on July 
1, 1923. In their stead are set up as separate units Offices of 
Editorial and Distribution Work, an Office of Experiment Sta¬ 
tions, and an Extension Service, while the work hitherto carried 
on by the Office of Home Economics of the States Relations Ser¬ 
vice is given the status of a separate bureau. * * * 

“The Extension Service will combine with the present' duties 
of the Office of Extension Work of the States Relations Service, 
the work relating to agricultural exhibits and motion pictures 
formerly carried on in the Division of Publications. In this 
connection a new supervisory position, that of Director of Ex¬ 
tension, is provided coordinate with the Directors of Scientific 
and of Regulatory Work.” 

BUREAU OF HOME ECONOMICS 
“The establishment of the Bureau of Home Economics is a 
recognition of the increasing attention being given by the Depart¬ 
ment to the homemaker. Originally instituted in 1894 under 
the direction of the first chief of the Office of Experiment Sta- 

1 Experiment Station Record, March, 1923, p. 303. 

218 



NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN HOME ECONOMICS 219 

tions, Dr. W. 0. Atwater, the nutrition investigations then under¬ 
taken have been gradually broadened to deal with household 
equipment, textiles, and other domestic problems, with a view to 
furnishing information both directly to homemakers and through 
the extension workers and other agencies. Since the initial appro¬ 
priation for the bureau remains at $71,760, the amount available 
for the present year, no immediate large-scale expansion of this 
work is anticipated, although it is expected that efforts will be 
made to coordinate more completely the numerous projects of 
interest to homemakers in progress in various parts of the Depart¬ 
ment. ’ ’ 2 

Dr. Louise M. Stanley, formerly Director of the 
Department of Home Economics in the University 
of Missouri, was appointed chief of this bureau and 
assumed the duties of her office September, 1923. 

Looking Forward. —The foregoing quotation from 
the Experiment Station Record raises many ques¬ 
tions in the minds of those interested in home 
economics. What will the new bureau do for home 
economics and for women through that agency ? How 
will women use that bureau ? What are to be some 
of the next steps in home economics ? Or, if the steps 
are not yet in evidence, what new goals can home eco¬ 
nomics set for itself ? 

These are searching questions for thoughtful 
women. Real progress depends upon the vision to 
see the possibilities in a new situation and to use pres¬ 
ent attainments as stepping-stones to better things. 
Unusual opportunities have come to women in these 
latter days. What part has home economics in this 


'Ibid. 




220 THE DEVELOPMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS 


new heritage of social, civic, economic and spiritual 
problems? 

The author can attempt only a partial answer and 
for that purpose history is more helpful than proph¬ 
ecy. A study of the preceding pages seems to show a 
steady advance in both the amount and the educa¬ 
tional value of the subject-matter; a growing appre¬ 
ciation of the social service possible through home 
economics; quite general agreement as to possible 
contacts between the child in the school and the 
woman in the home; interest, born of necessity, in the 
working out of the economic problems of the family ; 
emphasis upon the relation of health and food. A 
gratifying array of achievements along any one of a 
dozen lines can be presented. 

But how about the impress which home economics 
has made upon the ordinary woman in the ordinary 
home ? Has it touched her life and thought ? Does 
she know that her home affords her best opportunity 
for self-expression and for service, as well as for self- 
denial, and that home economics can help her ? Does 
she know that these are great days for women because 
great problems are to be faced, stated and solved 
by them? 

What part has home economics today in citizen¬ 
ship for women and in the adjustments between the 
home of the nineteenth century and the home of the 
twenty-first century ? It took many years to establish 
suffrage for women. Will it take as many more to 
learn how to use it wisely ? Home economics has said 


NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN HOME ECONOMICS 221 


much in the past twenty-five years about the ideal 
home. Can it do as much in the next twenty-five 
years to establish that ideal home ? The author be¬ 
lieves that home economics has a large contribution to 
make to this new home, some of which are: the tech¬ 
nique of many processes used in it; ability to see the 
parts in relation to the whole; a discriminating sense 
of values; adaptation. These furnish a good work¬ 
ing basis for the new order. Many women seem to 
have been turned aside from the home, lured by the 
promise of greater freedom and larger compensation, 
but that is only a passing phase. The author is not 
pessimistic about the final outcome. She believes 
that the age-old instincts will bring the same woman 
back to the home; that she will summon all the forces 
at her command and give to the new home and 
through it to the nation’s life moral sanity, mental 
poise, devotion to child and family life, and those 
spiritual elements which have ever constituted her 
best contribution. 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, Annals, Vol. 67, 1916. 

Series of articles on New Possibilities in Education. 

Anderson, L. F. The Manual Labor Movement. Educational Review, Vol. 
46, p. 369 ff. Nov., 1913. 

Boone, R. G., Education in the United States, Fellenberg Movement in the 
U. S., p. 223. 

Bureau of Education Bulletins Nos. 36-38, Parts I-IV, 1914. Education for 
the Home. 

Fitz, Rachael Kent. The College Woman Graduate. Education, Vol. 27, 
p. 601. June, 1907. 

Good Housekeeping, Jan., 1910, p. 3. Home Science in New York, by Mary 
R. Ormsbee. 

—February, 1910, p. 225. Home Science in California, by Margaret 
M. Doyle. 


222 THE DEVELOPMENT OP HOME ECONOMICS 


Good Housekeeping, 

—May, 1910, p. 602. Home Science in Illinois, by Edith 
B. Kirkwood. 

—October, 1910, p. 465. Development of Home Economics, by 
Isabel Bevier. 

—January, 1911, p. 58. Home Economics in Kansas, by a Pioneer. 

—January, 1913, p. 40. The College and the Household Sciences, 
by Hugo Miinsterberg. 

Hunt, Caroline L., Life of Ellen H. Richards. 

Journal of Home Economics, 

—Vol. 1, Story of Formal Organization of Home Economics 
Association. See especially addresses of Dr. True, 
Commissioner Brown, Mrs. Richards. 

—Vol. 3, Social Significance of Home Economics Movement. 

Mrs. Richards’ Relation to the Home Economics 
Movement. 

—Vol. 4, Catharine Beecher. 

—Vol. 5, Need of Home Economics in Education. 

Vocational and Cultural Value of Home Economics. 

Lake Placid Reports, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 10. Origin of Home Economics Association. 

Moore, E. C., Fifty Years of Education. Is the stress which is now being 
put on the practical studies interfering with the idealistic 
training of our girls and boys?—School and Society. Vol. 5, 
p. 361 ff. 

Miinsterberg, Hugo. Essays on Patriotism. 

Palmer, Geo. H., Life of Alice Freeman Palmer. 

Pedagogical Seminary, Vol. 5, p. 287, Early Phases of Manual Training 
Movement. 

Sykes, F. H., The Social Basis of the New Education for Women, Teachers’ 
College Record, Vol. 18, pp. 226 ff. 

Thomas, M. Carey. Present Tendencies in Women’s Colleges and University 
Education. Educational Review, January, 1908, Vol. 35, p. 64. 

Yearbook, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 1899, p. 167. The Morrill Act. 


INDEX 


A 

Abel, Mrs. Mary Henman, 159 
Academies, 57, 75, 77 
Alcuin, 24 

Alfred, The Great, 24 
American Home Economics Associa¬ 
tion, organization of, 155 
Association of University Women, 
92, 99 

Woman’s Educational Association, 

111 

Andrews, Benjamin R., 112, 149, 166 
Arnold, Sarah Louise, 105 
Atwater, Wilbur Olin, 147, 195 

B 

Bailey, Jacob, 73 

Barbarian invasions, effect on Ro¬ 
man Empire, 26 
effect on civilization, 26 
Barrows, Anna, 209 
Beecher, Catharine, 77 

contribution to education of wo¬ 
men, 109 
training, 108 
writings, 110 
Benedict, 15 
Benedictine rule, 15 
Boston Cooking School, 139 
High School for Girls, 76-77 
Latin Grammar School, 53 
Brown, Elmer E., 102, 155 
Burgher Schools, 33 

C 

Calvin, John, 39 

Calvinists, educational work of, 45- 
46 

Catechetical schools, 19 
Catechumenal schools, 19 
Cathedral schools, 20 

and monastic schools, place in 
education, 21 
sites, 22 


Catt, Mrs. Carrie Chapman, 104 
Chantry schools, 33 
Charity school, 56 
Charlemagne, 24 

Chivalry, ideas, motives, results, 
stages in education, 24-25 
Christian religion and learning, 19 
Christianity, teachings of, 17-18 
Chrysolorus, 36 

Church and State, beginning of sep¬ 
aration of, 49 

Clothing, teaching of, 197-199 
Co-education, discussion of, 93 
in West, 90 
Harris, Harper, 97 
Jordan et al., 93, 95, 97 
statistics for, 100-101 
Col6t, John, 37 
Collegiate schools, 44 
Comenius, 67 
Constantine, 18 

Convent schools, purpose and work 
of, 22 

Cooking schools, 134 
Corson, Juliet, 135-136 
Course in economics and social 
science, 190 

Courses in home economics readjust¬ 
ment, 180 
Crusades, The, 32 

D 

Dame school, 56, 70 
Dewey, Melvil, and Dewey, Anna, 
153 

Diet, factors in judging, 196 
Dietetics, teaching of, 195 
Differentiation in education, 107 
Doctrine of interest, 194 
Double-headed schools, 72 
Dugard, Mile., 95 
Durant, Henry, 90 


223 


224 


INDEX 


E 

Education, beginnings in United 
States, 50-51 
types transplanted, 52-53 
of girls, early, in United States, 
69-70 

in Europe, 63 
lack of data, 63 
of Paula, 22-23 
in 12th century, 27 
in United States in the transition 
period, 55, 56 
of women, factors in, 76 
Educational movements in United 
States in last quarter 19th cen¬ 
tury, 58 

Eliot, Charles W., 100 
Elizabeth, Queen, 44 
Elmira College, 187 
Emergency Act, 212 
Episcopal schools, 20 
Erasmus, 67 

Evolution of present educational 
ideals, 191-192 

Extension work, adjustments in, 
212-213 

beginnings in North and West, 
210-211 

development in South, 209-210 
factors in development, 207 
source, 207 

F 

Fenelon, 68 

Finishing schools, 74-75 
Food principles, change in use of 
term, 197 
teaching of, 189 
Folin, Otto, 162 

G 

Grammar schools, English, 37 
Greek contribution, to conduct of 
the home, 16 
to education, 17 
to religion and learning, 19 
learning and literature, 29 
wife, training of, 63 
Guilds, 32 


H 

Hale, Nathan, 72-73 
Harper, William R., 97 
Harris, WilTiam T., 93 
Home economics, beginnings of, in 
Illinois, 123-127 
Iowa, 120, 122 
Kansas, 122-123 
beginnings of teaching of, 185 
failure of first attempts, 188 
education defined, 177 
equipment for, 205 
Journal, 159 
larger aspects of, 181 
in public schools, 141-142 
Hoover, Herbert, 175 
Household management, 201-202 
Houston, David F., 170 
Humanism in France, 37 
in Germany, 39 
in Holland, 37 
Huss, John, 39 

I 

Infant schools, 57 
Ischomachus, 63 
Institutional management, 202 
Italy in the Renaissance, 36 

J 

Jansenists, 47 

Jesuits, organization, plan of life, 
training, 47 

Jordan, David Starr, 95 
Justinian, 18 

K 

Kiehle, David L., 105 
Kinne, Helen, 155 
Kitchen garden movement, 144 
Knox, John, 39 

L 

Lake Placid conferences, 150-153 
Land-grant college and home eco¬ 
nomics, 131-133 
Langworthy, C. F., 166, 173 
LaSalle, 48 
Lasell Seminary, 188 
Legislation on Smith-Hughes Act, 
178 


INDEX 


225 


Looking forward, 219-221 
Luther, Martin, 39 
Luther’s educational ideas, 42 
Lyon, Mary, 77 

contribution to home economics, 
84, 186 
early life, 80 
work for seminary, 83 

M 

McCollum, E. V., 197 
M^ann, Horace, 86 
Marlatt, Abby L., 175 
Mediaeval man, changes in, 36 
Medical science, beginning, 31 
Mendel, L. B., 197 
Mohammedans, contribution to civil¬ 
ization and to learning, 30 
defeat at Tours, 29 f 

Monastic life, features of training 
offered, 21 
schools, 20 

Monitorial schools, 57 
Mt. Holyoke plan, 186 
Miinsterberg, Hugo, 99 

N 

Nantes, Edict of, 41 
National Household Economics Asso¬ 
ciation, 145 

Newcomb, H. Sophie, College, 91 
New England Female Medical Col¬ 
lege, 85 
Primer, 56 

Normal School, first, 85 
Norton, Alice P., 175 

O 

Oberlin College, 84-85 

P 

Palace school, 24 
Parish schools, 55 
Parloa, S. Maria, 137-138 
Personal experiences, 192-193 
Petrarch, 36 
Princeton College, 55 
Private schools for girls, 72 
Program of work, 205 
Protein theories, 196 


R 

Reading course for farmers’ wives, 
208 

Reformation, educational results in 
England, 45 

influence on school legislation in 
America, 45 

on present-day education, 48-49 
effect within Roman church, 46 
Protestant, 39 
in England, 43, 45 
in France, 41-42 
in Germany, 40-41 
Renaissance, 29 

Reorganization of extension work, 
214 

difficulties of, 215 
Revival of learning, results, 38 
Richards, Ellen H., 149, 165 
Rockford College, 86 
Roman contribution to education, 
17 

religious ideas, 17 
Empire, decline, 26 
relation to Christian religion, 25 
Rorer, Sara Tyson, 140 
Rumford, Count, 113 
Rumford kitchen, 146 

S 

St. Paul’s School, 37 
St. Paul’s school, 37 
Separation of United States from 
England, steps in, 57 
Scholasticism, 31 

School legislation, beginnings in 
United States, 54 
principles involved, 55 
records, early, 71 
societies in United States, 57 
Schools, all day, 177 
evening, 177 
part time, 177 
class demands for, 58 
Shelter, teaching of, 200 
Sherman, Henry C., 197 
Simmons College, 140 
Smith College, 89 
Smith-Hughes Act, 176 


226 


INDEX 


Smith-Lever Act, effect on home 
economics, 172 
Smith, Sophia, 89 
Spirit of Inquiry, 69 
Stanley, Louise M., 219 
Sturm, Johann, 38 
Subject-matter, presentation of, 204 
revision of, 203-204 
Sweeney, Mary E., presidential ad¬ 
dress, 182-184 

Syllabus of home economics, 166- 
168 

Symposium on co-education, 93-100 

T 

Taylor, Alonzo E., 175 
Taylor, Joseph, 90 
Theodosius, 18 
Thomas, M. Carey, 160 
Thwing, Charles F., 96 
True, A. C., 131, 148, 156-158 
Typical food course, 190 

U 

Universities, degrees given by, 35 
evolution of, 34 
faculties in, 35 
method of instruction in, 35 
privileges of, 34 

United States Bureau of Education, 
interest in the home, 170-171 
Bureau of Home Economics, 218- 
219 

Children’s Bureau, 170 
Food Administration, home eco¬ 
nomics in, 175-176 
Office of Experiment Stations, 146 


Office of Home Economics, 173 
States Relation Service, 173 

V 

Van Rensselaer, Martha, 175, 208 
Vassar College, plan for, 88 
Vassar, Matthew, 87 
Vives, Luis Juan, 66 
Vocational Education, beginnings of, 
15 

W 

War, World, 174 
Ward, Florence, 175, 211 
Westphalia, Peace of, 42 
Wesleyan Female College, 86 
White, E. E., 94 
Wilbur, Ray Lyman, 175 
Willard, Elnma Hart, 77-79 
William and Mary College, 55 
Woman’s place in the social order, 
64 

Women’s colleges, 87 
Women of renown, 64-65 
World War, results in home eco¬ 
nomics, 178-179 
Wycliffe, John, 29 

X 

Xenophon, 63 

Y 

Yale College, 55 
Youmans, Edward L., 113 

Z 

Zwingli, Huldreich, 39 










































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